Kobayashi Sake Brewery

Kobayashi Sake Brewery

Kobayashi Sake Brewery (小林酒造, Kobayashi Shuzō) in Nishiki, Kuriyama Town, Hokkaido, founded in 1878, keeps thirteen buildings registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on October 18, 2006: twelve storehouses, workshops and offices built between 1900 and 1953, and the brewing family's own house (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Its sake is sold under the Kitanonishiki label (北の錦).

The brewery's own history says it began making sake in Sapporo in 1878 and moved its base to Kuriyama in 1900, which fits the five buildings the Agency dates to that year: the No. 1 Storehouse, the rice steaming house and the No. 4 to No. 6 storehouses. The Japan Heritage portal gives the move as 1901, yet pairs that year with the Japanese era date for 1900; this page follows the brewery and the Agency.

Kuriyama lies close to the Yubari coalfield, and Kuriyama Town notes that Kitanonishiki sold well among the miners of the surrounding pits. The buildings are part of the Japan Heritage story of Hokkaido's coal, steel, ports and railways, known in short as Tantekko.

How the Site Is Laid Out

Put the Agency's descriptions side by side and the plan of the brewery appears. The long No. 1 Storehouse runs east to west through the middle, with the rice steaming house and its chimney to the west. Along the north side, a row of storehouses runs from east to west: No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and the koji room. The former office holds the east corner, the former materials warehouse the southeast corner, the former beer and canning warehouse the south edge, and the former rice mill the southwest corner, while the Kobayashi family house stands toward the south in the middle.

By material and date, the thirteen fall into four groups:

• Stone over a timber frame: the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 storehouses (all 1900)
• Brick: the No. 1 Storehouse (1900, enlarged 1918), the rice steaming house (1900), the former materials warehouse (1920), the No. 2 and No. 3 storehouses (1921) and the koji room (1922)
• Timber: the former beer and canning warehouse (1920), the former rice mill (1953) and the Kobayashi family house (1901, enlarged 1930)
• Reinforced concrete: the former office (1944)

According to the brewery, the second Yonesaburo Kobayashi tackled Hokkaido winters cold enough to stall fermentation by heating with coal, and brought tile makers from Niigata to build in brick. Seen with that story in mind, the Meiji-era stone stores flanked by Taisho-era brick ones read as a record of the business adapting. Each building has its own page.

What Was Registered

All thirteen were registered in the same round on October 18, 2006, under consecutive registration numbers from 01-0077 (the former office) to 01-0089 (the Kobayashi family house) (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Every one was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, and the Hokkaido Board of Education lists them as thirteen properties in Kuriyama.

Sources differ on the age of the Kobayashi family house: the Agency dates it to 1901, while the brewery gives 1897.

Visiting

The Kitanonishiki Memorial Hall, housed in the former office, is the place to start and doubles as the brewery shop. The brewery gives its hours as 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (to 5 p.m. in summer), closed December 31 to January 3 and on the third Monday of April. The Hokkaido tourism organization's site lists free entry, a paid staff guide and free parking for 20 cars.

The storehouses are not open year round. The brewery takes reservations for interior tours from groups of 10 or more, and opens its storehouses to everyone during the sake festival on the second Saturday and Sunday of April. The Kobayashi family house opened to the public in 2014 and can be seen on a paid guided tour.

The brewery is about 1 kilometre, roughly 15 minutes on foot, from Kuriyama Station on the JR Muroran Line, and about 40 kilometres by road from Sapporo. No official guidance on photography was found.