Kanemitsu Sake Brewery

About Kanemitsu Sake Brewery

Kanemitsu Sake Brewery (金光酒造) is a sake brewery at Nomio, Kurose-cho, Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, whose brewing storehouse, storage storehouse, packing house, bottling house, annex, well house, gate and wall, and chimney, dating from the early Meiji to the early Showa period, were registered as eight Registered Tangible Cultural Property structures on April 3, 2020. All eight were registered as contributing to the historic landscape of the country (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the main house stands in the middle of the site facing east, with the brewing buildings gathered to its north-west. The principal brewing building is the brewing storehouse between the main house and the storage storehouse, which runs 39 metres along the north edge of the site.

Eight Structures

The brewing storehouse is an early Meiji two-storey earthen store laid out in a T shape, with brewing on the ground floor. The late Meiji storage storehouse, 39 metres long, is visible from all around and shapes the look of the brewery. The packing house was converted from an early Meiji household store, and the bottling house from part of an early Taisho dwelling (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The annex, linked to the south of the main house by a corridor, is a late Taisho sukiya-style suite; the early Showa well house shelters a stone-curbed well supplying the water vital to brewing. The gate and wall, a one-bay yakuimon flanked by walls, form the front of the property, and the brick chimney, about 12 metres tall, is visible from afar as a local landmark (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting and Location

Kanemitsu is a working brewery, and we found no official information on visits to the storehouses. Please view them from outside the site. The address is 1364-2 Nomio, Kurose-cho, Higashihiroshima City.