Hashimoto Sake Brewery Cold Storage Room

A Taisho-Era Stone Store, Moved in 1956

Hashimoto Sake Brewery Cold Storage Room (橋本酒造冷蔵室, Hashimoto Shuzō Reizōshitsu) is a stone storehouse built in the Taisho era (between 1912 and 1925) at a sake brewer's compound in Iburihashi-machi, Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture. It was moved to its present site in 1956 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 December 2005. It stands northwest of the storage house along the north boundary, with its ridge running east to west.

The two-storey building of timber-framed stone measures 5 by 4 Ken bays, with a building area of 93 square metres, under a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki tiles with a Tsumairi gable-end entrance. A lean-to Geya 2 bays wide projects from the east side, and the doorway opens beneath it.

Despite the name, it is not a refrigerator. The thick stone walls and separate roof shut out outside heat, and the building was probably used to keep sake cool.

Why It Was Registered

The Hashimoto Sake Brewery Cold Storage Room was registered as difficult to reproduce. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, a single central post inside supports the ridge beam, over which heavy gasshō rafters are set.

Gasshō are pairs of inclined timbers leaning together to meet at the peak. A single post taking the ridge beam, with stout rafters laid over it, differs from the roof frames of the storage house and refined sake storehouse on the same lot. Like the stone storehouse, the roof is an okiyane, built separately and set on the walls.

It also matters that a Taisho stone store was taken apart and rebuilt on a new site in 1956. Moving a building of stone and timber was a considerable effort, a sign of how much the brewery needed it.

What to Look For

The entrance sits under the lean-to on the east side. Rather than cutting a door straight into the stone wall, the builders sheltered it under a small roof, most likely to keep rain and sun out of the store.

Because the Hashimoto Sake Brewery Cold Storage Room runs along the north boundary, its north wall faces outside the lot. Compare it with the smaller stone storehouse, built the same way, to see the difference in scale.

Visiting

The Hashimoto Sake Brewery Cold Storage Room stands along the north boundary, inside the grounds, and from the public road little more than part of its roof can be seen. The property is private and cannot be entered without the owner's permission.

Plans to open the compound as a private art museum have been reported, but whether this building will be open and whether photography is allowed could not be confirmed as of September 2026. Directions and general visiting conditions are on the Hashimoto Sake Brewery page.