Two rice stores under one front
The Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse (旧木村酒造場米蔵, Kyū Kimura Shuzōjō Komegura) is a late Meiji-period (1898–1912) Dozo-zukuri earthen storehouse in Takeda, Wadayama-cho, Asago City, Hyogo Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 November 2015. It held the rice that the brewery turned into sake.
It sits on the street side of the compound, directly opposite the earth-floored work area of the Shop and Main House. It is single-storey with a tiled roof and a building area of 96 square metres, and it is one of the three Kimura structures whose exterior you can see from the street.
The national database notes that it was renovated in 2013, the year the whole brewery was converted into a hotel.
Why it was listed
The Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse looks like one building but is really two. Two gable-ended stores, each entered from the gable end (Tsumairi), stand side by side; one held brown rice, the other polished white rice, and a single continuous lean-to roof (Geya) across the front ties them together.
Brown rice is rice as it arrives from the farm. For sake, the grains are milled before they are steamed, so a brewery needed to keep unmilled and milled stock apart. The paired stores are a diagram of the brewery's raw material moving through the site.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs listed the storehouse for its contribution to the streetscape of the former Takeda castle town, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape.
What to look for
The roof is of the Okiyane type: a separately framed roof set on top of the thick earthen body of the store, leaving a gap between the two. If the tiled roof burned in a town fire, the store and its contents beneath could survive. It is a common precaution on Japanese storehouses.
The walls are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster, with a projecting band called a Hachimaki running under the eaves. Now look at the base of the walls, because it changes from side to side. The street face is Namako-kabe, flat tiles fixed in a grid with raised plaster seams. The face turned toward the inside of the compound is finished in washed artificial stone: cement mixed with small pebbles, scrubbed while still green so that the stones show.
Traditional tiles where passers-by would see them, a hard-wearing modern finish on the working side: two treatments on one building, and a neat summary of a late Meiji business that cared about appearances and about cost.
The lean-to across the front sheltered both doorways at once. Picture bales of rice being carried in and out underneath it and its depth starts to make sense.
Visiting
The street side of the Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse can be seen freely from the road. Step back to the opposite side of the street to take in the full run of the tiled base and the band under the eaves.
The interior, and the courtyard face with its artificial-stone base, lie within the compound now run as a hotel. There are no public opening days or interior tours, and the operator does not say what the storehouse is used for today. If you are staying or dining, ask the staff if the courtyard side can be shown to you.
No restrictions are published on photographing the exterior from the street.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Hyogo
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse
- [ Himeji Castle & Kobe Night View Cruise ]
Q&A
- Where can I see the Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse?
- Its street side can be viewed freely from the road, opposite the earth-floored work area of the Shop and Main House. The interior and the courtyard face are inside the hotel compound and are not open to the public.
- Why does the Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse look like two buildings?
- It is two stores side by side, one for brown rice and one for polished rice, joined by a continuous lean-to roof across the front so that they read as a single building.
- What is unusual about the walls of the Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse?
- They are lime-plastered with a band under the eaves, but the base differs by side: tiled namako-kabe toward the street, and washed artificial stone toward the inside of the compound.
- When was the Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse registered?
- On 17 November 2015. It was built in the late Meiji period (1898–1912) and renovated in 2013.
- What is the okiyane roof on the Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse?
- It is a separately framed roof set on top of the earthen storehouse, with a gap between them, so that the store could survive even if the roof burned.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 363 Kamimachi Nishigawa, Takeda, Wadayama-cho, Asago City, Hyogo Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2015/11/17 (Heisei 27) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey dozo-zukuri storehouse, tiled roof, building area 96 square metres |
| Owner | Asago City |
| Public Access | Street side visible from the road; interior not open to the public |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Former Kimura Brewery Rice Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010867
- National Cultural Properties Database: Former Kimura Brewery Shop and Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010866
Last verified: 2026.10.01
