Hashimoto Sake Brewery Storage House

A Late-Edo Store Joined to the Pressing House

Hashimoto Sake Brewery Storage House (橋本酒造貯蔵庫, Hashimoto Shuzō Chozōko) is a late-Edo sake store, built between 1830 and 1867, at a brewer's compound in Iburihashi-machi, Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 December 2005. It joins the western part of the pressing house's north face, with its ridge running north to south.

The two-storey building measures 9 by 4 and a half Ken bays, with a building area of 145 square metres, the same as the pressing house. It has a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki tiles and a Tsumairi gable-end entrance, and a staircase in the southwest corner.

As its name says, it was built to hold sake, one wall away from the room where the sake was pressed. The layout follows the order of the work.

Why It Was Registered

The Hashimoto Sake Brewery Storage House was registered as difficult to reproduce. The Agency for Cultural Affairs draws attention to the roof structure: two posts along the interior ridge line and a Munamochi-bashira ridge-supporting post in each gable end carry the jimune, a heavy beam running the length of the building beneath the ridge.

The jimune is the backbone of the roof frame. Carrying the ridge beam of a store 9 bays long at just four points, two inside and one at each end, is a simple and robust arrangement.

Like the pressing house, its outer walls are lined on the inside with tuff, and its ridge carries Shakudani stone.

What to Look For

Look at the centre of each gable. The ridge-supporting post runs from the ground to the ridge through the middle of the gable wall, and even when hidden, its line can be read from the gable's shape.

Note too how the north-south Hashimoto Sake Brewery Storage House meets the east-west pressing house at a right angle, the two roofs forming an L.

Visiting

The Hashimoto Sake Brewery Storage House stands against the north side of the pressing house, 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.