Higashi Brewery Koji Room

Higashi Brewery Koji Room: Stone to the Eaves

The Higashi Brewery Koji Room (東酒造場麹室, Higashi Shuzōjō Kōjishitsu) is a single-storey stone building from 1949 on the west side of the Higashi sake brewery in Noda-machi, Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and it was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on January 8, 2009.

It adjoins the north side of the West Storehouse and measures 7.4 meters by 8.3 meters, with a building area of 62 square meters. Deeper than it is wide, the small building has a gabled roof of pantiles. The Keishoan tea room abuts it to the north.

Koji is steamed rice on which a mold, Aspergillus oryzae, has been grown; its enzymes turn the rice starch into sugar that yeast can ferment. Making koji depends on close control of warmth and humidity, and giving that job a room with thick stone walls says a lot about how the Higashi Brewery Koji Room came to be built.

Why the Koji Room Was Registered

The Higashi Brewery Koji Room was registered under the criterion for buildings that contribute to the historic landscape of the country.

Kanagaso stone is laid right up to the eaves. Above that, the upper part of each gable wall is built in the Shinkabe manner, leaving the roof framing exposed. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out the effect of a light roof resting on heavy masonry walls.

Komatsu's Japan Heritage story on stone culture includes the Higashi stone storehouses and notes that they stay warm in winter and cool in summer, which suits temperature control. In the Koji Room, that quality of the stone feeds directly into a stage of brewing.

What to Look For

Stand at a gable end of the Higashi Brewery Koji Room and watch the stonework stop at eave height, with the timber roof frame showing above it. The idea of a stone box topped by a wooden roof is clear at a glance.

Its modest 7.4-meter length is part of the appeal. Beside the West Storehouse and the Keishoan tea room, it shows how closely a family brewery set its work rooms and its tea room, with only a stone wall between them.

Compare the masonry with the East Storehouse on the south edge. Built of the same stone but carried all the way to the eaves, the Koji Room's walls feel more like a closed box.

Seeing the Higashi Brewery Koji Room

The Higashi Brewery Koji Room stands on the west side of the compound, north of the West Storehouse. Koji rooms are commonly kept off-limits to guard against stray microbes, and whether visitors may enter is at the brewery's discretion. Check what can be seen, inside or out, when you book a tour.

Ask about photography at the same time. Directions and booking details are on the Higashi Brewery page.