Hashimoto Sake Brewery Stone Storehouse

A Household Store Faced in Takigahara Stone

Hashimoto Sake Brewery Stone Storehouse (橋本酒造石蔵, Hashimoto Shuzō Ishigura) is a storehouse for household valuables built in 1948 at a sake brewer's compound in Iburihashi-machi, Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 December 2005. It stands south of the tool storehouse with its ridge running east to west.

At 3 by 2 and a half Ken bays and 26 square metres of building area, this two-storey store is the smallest of the twelve. It is built of timber-framed stone: board-lined inside, with Takigahara stone, a local tuff, stacked on the outside. There is a single doorway at the northern end of the east face.

It held the family's belongings rather than sake, and belongs with the tool storehouse and reception room to the domestic side of the compound.

Why It Was Registered

The Hashimoto Sake Brewery Stone Storehouse was registered as difficult to reproduce. Its Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki tiles is an okiyane, a separate roof set on top of the walls, and its ridge carries Shakudani stone like the main house and reception room.

An okiyane is built as an independent structure resting on the storehouse body, so that if the roof burned the stone-walled store beneath would survive. The use of two different tuffs, Takigahara stone from nearby Komatsu for the walls and Shakudani stone from Echizen for the ridge, is another distinctive feature.

What to Look For

Up close, the tuff blocks sit in level courses, and fine chisel marks remain on their soft surface. Takigahara stone is known as a soft, easily worked stone.

Look under the eaves to see how the roof sits on the walls. With an okiyane there is often a small gap between the top of the wall and the roof structure.

Visiting

The Hashimoto Sake Brewery Stone Storehouse stands south of the tool storehouse, 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.