About the Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney
The Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney (旧広島県西条清酒醸造支場煙突) is a round reinforced concrete chimney built around 1929 in Saijo Kamiichicho, Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 1, 2016.
It served the brewing storehouse of the prefecture's sake research station and stands just south of that building. It rises about 19 meters from a base about 1.3 meters across. The national database records the builder as the Osaka Tekkin Konkurito Komusho, an Osaka reinforced concrete contractor.
Saijo is known for the red-brick chimneys along its brewery street, each painted with a brewer's name. This one is different: concrete instead of brick, round instead of square, and bare of lettering.
Why the Chimney Was Registered
The Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney was registered on August 1, 2016, number 34-0190, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. The Agency for Cultural Affairs classifies it as a structure other than a building.
Together with the brewing storehouse, the agency counts it among the oldest reinforced concrete structures in Saijo. Brewing sake takes a great deal of steam for cooking rice, and the chimney carried off the smoke from the boilers and fireboxes that produced it.
That the contractor's name was recorded says something too. Handing the job to a specialist concrete firm from Osaka suggests the station planned the brewhouse and its chimney together as one modern structure.
What to Look For
Visit the Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney after walking past the brick chimneys on the brewery street, and the contrast is obvious. Brick stacks are square, with mortar joints that make fine horizontal stripes. This one is a cast concrete tube with a smooth, round surface.
At about 19 meters it towers over the two-story brewhouse. As you approach, scan the low brewery roofs for a plain gray shaft to get your bearings.
Look at it alongside the brewhouse and the two read as one plan. Placing the stack just beyond the south lean-to kept the heat source as close as possible to the brewing floor, and a base about 1.3 meters across hints at the scale of the fireboxes it once served.
Visiting the Chimney
The Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney is an outdoor structure with nothing to enter. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, when the Shusenkan café in the main building is open, you can see it standing south of the brewing storehouse.
How close you can get depends on which parts of the compound are open, and the site is also a working brewery, so follow signs and staff directions. No photography policy is published, and stepping back a little is the easiest way to fit the whole shaft in one frame.
The national database does not list an owner for the chimney.
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Q&A
- How tall is the Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney?
- It is about 19 meters tall, with a base about 1.3 meters in diameter.
- When was the Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to about 1929.
- Who built the Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney?
- According to the national database, it was built by the Osaka Tekkin Konkurito Komusho, a reinforced concrete contractor from Osaka.
- When was the Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney registered as a cultural property?
- It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 1, 2016, under registration number 34-0190.
- Where can you see the Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney?
- It stands south of the brewing storehouse. You can see it from the compound on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays when the Shusenkan café is open, and its height makes it easy to spot from a distance.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney |
|---|---|
| Location | 957 Saijo Kamiichicho, Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered August 1, 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Height about 19 meters, base diameter about 1.3 meters (reinforced concrete) |
| Owner | Unknown (not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Outdoor structure; exterior visible from the compound |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Hiroshima Prefecture Saijo Sake Brewing Branch Chimney
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011197
- Higashihiroshima City: Former Hiroshima Prefectural Brewing Experiment Station, Historic Site Saijo Sakagura-gun (Japanese)
- https://www.city.higashihiroshima.lg.jp/soshiki/kyoikuiinkaishogaigakushu/3/11/bunkazai/town/saijo/sakaguragun/39658.html
- MLIT Chugoku Regional Development Bureau: Saijo Sake Brewery Street, Higashihiroshima (Japanese, PDF)
- https://www.cgr.mlit.go.jp/kensei/chiki/machi_keikan/syokai/pdf/higashihiroshima.pdf
- Higashihiroshima Tourism (Higashiru): Kamoizumi Sake Brewery (Japanese)
- https://higashihiroshima-kanko.jp/spot/kamoizumi/
Last verified: 2026.09.24
