Former Kimura Brewery

A sake brewery at the foot of Takeda Castle

Former Kimura Brewery (旧木村酒造場, Kyū Kimura Shuzōjō) is a late Meiji-period (1898–1912) sake brewery in Takeda, Wadayama-cho, Asago City, Hyogo Prefecture, whose six surviving structures were listed together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 17 November 2015. The buildings belong to Asago City.

The compound sits on the main street of the old castle town of Takeda, at the eastern foot of Kojo-yama, the hill crowned by the stone ramparts of Takeda Castle. According to the present operator, the Kimura family moved to Takeda and began brewing around 1625, lost their premises to fire twice, and rebuilt in about 1902. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the buildings simply to the late Meiji period, which fits that account.

After brewing ended, the city took over the site and restored it. Five of the six listings carry the note "renovated 2013", and in November of that year the brewery reopened as a hotel and restaurant. The registration followed two years later: buildings whose use had changed were recognised because their exteriors and timber frames had survived the conversion intact.

How the six structures are laid out

The Former Kimura Brewery splits into two halves. The east side faces the street and was the public face of the business; the west side faces the castle hill and was where the sake was made.

On the street stands the Shop and Main House, a large Machiya town house with a building area of 309 square metres. Across from its earth-floored work area is the Rice Storehouse, which shows the street a skirting of Namako-kabe, the diagonal grid of tiles and raised plaster seams that marks so many Japanese storehouses. A wall runs from the corner of the main house's formal reception room to the edge of the lot, broken by a small roofed gate; together they form the listed Gate and Wall.

Along the west edge stand three buildings in a row. The Sake Press Storehouse (舟蔵, funagura) fills the northern half; it is 25 metres long, once held a Kojimuro koji-making room, and was where the fermented mash was pressed. Toward the south is the Storage Facility, 21 metres long, where the new sake was left to mature. Between them rises the Back Gate, a 2-storey timber building whose ridge stands higher than its neighbours: the ground floor holds a gateway, and the upper floor housed the master brewer (tōji) and his seasonal crew.

Store the rice, make the koji, press the mash, age the sake: at the Kimura brewery the sequence can be read in the buildings themselves, moving from street to hillside. That completeness, more than the quality of any single building, is why all six were listed at once. Each was registered under the same criterion, as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country.

The view toward the castle

West of the Former Kimura Brewery rises Kojo-yama, with the ruins of Takeda Castle on its summit. The Sake Press Storehouse, Back Gate and Storage Facility do not turn their backs on the hill so much as form a single long wall facing it, the rear elevation of the compound as seen from the castle side. The Agency's description of the press storehouse singles out exactly this role.

From the street, the clerestory roof and the raised firewalls (Udatsu) of the main house sit against the slope of the castle hill behind. Few places in Takeda hold the merchant street and the mountain fortress in a single frame so neatly.

Visiting and getting there

Today the Former Kimura Brewery is owned by Asago City and run as Takeda Castle Town Hotel EN, a "distributed" hotel whose rooms and restaurant are spread across historic buildings in the town; the reception desk is inside the brewery compound. There are no public opening days or admission tickets for the interiors, which are open only to hotel guests and restaurant diners.

The easiest way inside without staying the night is dinner. The French restaurant, set in a former fermentation storehouse, takes non-residents and serves from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. (last order 8 p.m.), closing on irregular days. Walk-ins are possible when there is space, but the operator recommends booking.

From the street you can freely see the Shop and Main House, the Rice Storehouse and the Gate and Wall. No official photography rules are published; because guests come and go, it is courteous to ask at reception before taking pictures inside the compound.

The nearest station is Takeda on the JR Bantan Line, a 3-minute walk from the hotel reception. From Osaka, the Hamakaze limited express reaches Wadayama in about 2 hours 15 minutes, with a 7-minute connection on the Bantan Line to Takeda. Drivers can reach the town about 5 minutes from Wadayama IC and park at the free municipal Takeda Machinaka Tourist Car Park nearby.