Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 2 Brewhouse East-West Wing

The core brewhouse of Kamotsuru

Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 2 Brewhouse East-West Wing (賀茂鶴酒造二号蔵東西棟, Kamotsuru Shuzō Nigōgura Tōzaitō) is a two-story Dozo-zukuri earthen-walled sake brewhouse from the late Meiji period (1898 to 1912) at the head office of Kamotsuru Sake Brewery in Saijo Honmachi, Higashihiroshima City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017.

The name means the wing whose ridge runs east to west; it is a single building, not two. Covering 723 square meters, it forms the front of the No. 2 Brewhouse, with the north-south wing joined to its rear east end and the No. 3 Brewhouse to its rear west end. The brewery renovated it in 1984, and it remains one of the head-office brewhouses where sake is still made by hand.

Namako plaster and lattice windows

The entrance is on the long side (Hirairi). The roof is pantiled, though part of the lean-to (Geya) uses traditional round-and-flat tiles. The roof is carried on a Western-style Truss, spanning the wide interior without posts.

The front wall is the building's signature. Above a stone footing, the lower wall is faced with Namako-kabe, flat tiles set diagonally with raised plaster joints, and the upper wall is white Shikkui plaster pierced by many lattice windows.

Why the Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 2 Brewhouse East-West Wing was registered

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, the agency calling it one of Kamotsuru's core brewhouses with a distinctive exterior. The other No. 2 listings cluster around the Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 2 Brewhouse East-West Wing: the chimney to the west, the research laboratory in front and the west well, now enclosed in a building, at the southwest corner.

Visiting the Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 2 Brewhouse East-West Wing

The Kamotsuru Sake Brewery No. 2 Brewhouse East-West Wing is a working brewhouse and is normally closed; the namako wall and lattice windows are visible from the path east of the head office.

Interior visits happen only at company events. During the Saijo Sake Festival (October 10 and 11 in 2026), the No. 2 Brewhouse toji leads booked tours inside for 2,000 yen, gathering in front of the brewhouse. The brewery warns of steep stairs inside.