Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 1 Brewhouse West Wing

The long red-tiled storehouse on Kamotsuru's founding site

Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 1 Brewhouse West Wing (賀茂鶴酒造一号蔵西棟, Kamotsuru Shuzō Ichigōgura Nishitō) is a two-story Dozo-zukuri earthen-walled sake brewhouse from the early Meiji period (1868 to 1882) on the founding site of Kamotsuru Sake Brewery in Saijo Honmachi, Higashihiroshima City, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017. It was extended in the Taisho and early Showa eras and renovated in 2016.

The wing occupies the full western edge of the founding site, then turns a right angle at its north end and runs east, giving an L-shaped plan of 528 square meters. Together with the east wing it now houses the brewery's own shop and museum, so it is one of only two parts of the No. 1 Brewhouse that visitors can enter.

A roof built in stages

The gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) roof is covered in reddish pantiles. From outside the building reads as one storehouse, but the north-south range grew in several campaigns, and the roof framing changes with them: according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the southern half from the middle onward uses a Western-style Truss, while the rest is framed in the traditional Japanese Wagoya manner.

Higashihiroshima City, which surveyed the building for its Historic Site designation, divides the Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 1 Brewhouse West Wing into four parts: the northeast range from the early Meiji period, the northern end probably from about 1873, the central range from the early Showa era and the southern end from the Taisho era. The oldest work is at the north, and the storehouse was lengthened southward over roughly six decades.

The brewery's history adds a small detail. In 1947 the company made soft drinks to give work to employees who had lost their jobs, and marks from the bottle racks still survive on a beam of the No. 1 Brewhouse; the account does not say which wing.

Why the Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 1 Brewhouse West Wing was registered

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, with the agency pointing to its long elevation along the edge of the district. In 2024 the No. 1 Brewhouse also became part of the national Historic Site of the Saijo Sake Breweries; the city cites it as an example of the older Saijo layout, with the brewhouse set behind a house on a narrow post-town plot.

Visiting the Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 1 Brewhouse West Wing

The west wing is part of the brewery shop, open 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (last entry 5:45 p.m.) without booking, and entry is free. Walking through the displays you can see the switch between truss and wagoya framing overhead.

To grasp the building's length, walk north along the western edge of the site. At the corner where the wing turns east, its L-shaped plan becomes clear.