Fukubijin Sake Brewery No. 4 Storehouse South Building

Twenty-Eight Metres Under Inclined Beams

Fukubijin Sake Brewery No. 4 Storehouse South Building (福美人酒造四号蔵南棟, Fukubijin Shuzō Yongō-gura Minamitō) is a Taisho-era sake storehouse (1912 to 1926) at the Daikoku-gura compound in Saijo Suehirocho, Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on 1 August 2016.

It stands toward the south on the east side of the compound, ridge running north to south, and with the North Building beyond it forms the No. 4 Storehouse. It is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse with a gabled slate roof, 28 metres long and covering 369 square metres.

A lean-to runs along the west side. The roof is framed with noboribari, inclined beams that carry the roof in the traditional Japanese manner.

Two Records, Two Dates

Sources disagree sharply on the age of Fukubijin Sake Brewery No. 4 Storehouse South Building. The national database places it in the Taisho era, 1912 to 1926, while Higashihiroshima City gives 1937, the same year as the North Building.

This article records both rather than choosing. The two halves of the No. 4 Storehouse use different roof framing, a Western King post truss in the north and inclined beams in the south, which hints that they went up at different times. The city, on the other hand, treats the No. 4 Storehouse as a single building.

The exterior is now sheathed in sheet steel, but the national record notes that the walls were probably finished in Shikkui plaster originally. The metal cladding is therefore a later addition.

On 21 February 2024 the city designated Daikoku-gura as part of the Saijo Sake Brewery Group, a municipal cultural property, and the South Building is listed among its components.

What to Look For

The small hoods over the windows carry the whole elevation. On a flat metal wall they throw short bands of shadow that break up what would otherwise be a long, featureless surface. The national record singles them out as the building's visual accent.

Set against the North Building, the contrast is plain: boards and plastered lattices on one half, sheet steel and window hoods on the other, all under the name of a single storehouse.

Visiting

The Daikoku-gura compound is closed to the public, and the brewery does not accept visitors there. There is no access to Fukubijin Sake Brewery No. 4 Storehouse South Building or its interior.

The exterior can be seen only from outside the site. Because the building runs north to south, streets to the east offer the best chance of a view along its long wall. The part of Fukubijin open to visitors is the Ebisu-gura compound.