Fukubijin Sake Brewery Rear Storehouse (Sedo-gura)

The Storehouse Behind the Storehouse

Fukubijin Sake Brewery Rear Storehouse (福美人酒造背戸蔵, Sedo-gura) is an early Showa brewery building (1926 to 1945) on the Ebisu-gura compound in Saijo Honmachi, Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on 1 August 2016.

Sedo means the back of a house, and that is exactly where it stands: behind the No. 1 Storehouse, the brewery's main building, along the northern edge of the compound. Its ridge runs east to west, and it consists of a single-storey east wing 26 metres long and a two-storey west wing 11 metres long.

The record lists it as timber, two storeys with a single-storey section, under a slate roof, with a building area of 209 square metres. Curiously, the national description calls it an earthen storehouse, while the structural entry gives timber construction.

Built in Stages

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the east wing of Fukubijin Sake Brewery Rear Storehouse appears to have been added first as an extension of the No. 1 Storehouse, followed later by the west wing. It was not planned in one go but lengthened as production grew.

The two wings differ in height. The long single-storey east wing runs along until the two-storey west wing steps up above it, and that change in level records the order of construction on the outside of the building.

Its value lies in the street. The Rear Storehouse faces the road along the north of the compound and, together with the neighbouring Showa-gura, gives the back street a proper brewery frontage.

What to Look For

From the street on the north side, the 26-metre single-storey east wing and the 11-metre two-storey west wing read as one continuous line. Where the roof height changes is where one phase of building met the next.

As its name suggests, this is the back of the brewery. Visitors entering through the main gate see little of it, hidden behind the No. 1 Storehouse; walk round to the north and its full length opens up.

Visiting

There is no announced public access to the interior of Fukubijin Sake Brewery Rear Storehouse. The exterior is best seen from the road along the north side of the compound.

You can also enter the Ebisu-gura compound during shop hours, but the Rear Storehouse sits behind the No. 1 Storehouse and is hard to take in from inside. Its street-facing north wall is its real face.