What Is the Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room?
The Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room (横屋酒造麹室, Yokoya Shuzō Kōjishitsu) is a single-storey stone building for cultivating koji in Senmaya, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture, built around 1902 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003.
It stands on the north side of the grounds, parallel to the Front Storehouse: a narrow building about 22 metres long and 7 metres deep, with a building area of 159 square metres, divided inside into two rooms. The tank shed abuts its east gable. A koji room is where steamed rice is inoculated with koji mould, Aspergillus oryzae, and nursed until the mould converts starch into sugar, a step that shapes the flavour of the finished sake.
Why It Was Registered
Almost every brewery building on the site is either earthen-walled or timber; the Koji Room alone is built of stone. Koji needs a warm, humid room held at a steady temperature, and thick masonry is good at holding heat. Here the choice of structure follows the job directly.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs commends the solidity of its stone walls. Put up around 1902, at roughly the same time as the three great storehouses, it belongs to the same campaign of building. Its registration number is 03-0048.
What to Look For
Two kinds of stone share the wall. The base is granite, left rough and bulging in a rock-faced finish; above it is Shiogama stone, a fine-grained tuff cut into smooth ashlar blocks. Heavy stone at the bottom, softer and easily worked stone on top: the logic is visible at a glance.
A cornice runs around the top of the walls under a gabled roof of interlocking pantiles. The cornice is a Western-style detail, and finding one on a sake koji room is typical of how late Meiji builders in the countryside absorbed new ideas. View the 22-metre wall at an angle, when low sun catches the rough granite against the flat tuff.
Visiting
The Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room is at the back of the site, north of the Front Storehouse. Its exterior can be seen from the grounds free of charge on opening days of the Senmaya Sake no Kura Exchange Facility. The operator's website does not describe regular public access to the brewery interiors, so plan on seeing the outside; if you hope to go in, contact Senmaya Machizukuri Co., Ltd. (tel. 0191-53-2070) beforehand. Directions, opening days and hours are on the page for the Yokoya Sake Brewery and Sato Family Residence.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Iwate
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room
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Q&A
- What was the Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room used for?
- Growing koji. Steamed rice was inoculated with koji mould and kept warm and humid until the mould had done its work, a step that shapes the flavour of the sake.
- Why is the Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room built of stone?
- Koji needs steady warmth, and thick masonry holds heat well. It is the only stone building among the brewery structures on the site.
- What stone was used for the Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room?
- Rock-faced granite for the base and Shiogama stone, a smooth tuff ashlar, above, finished with a cornice at the eaves.
- Can you visit the Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room?
- You can view the outside from the grounds, free of charge, on opening days. The interior is not regularly open, so check with the operator in advance if you hope to go in.
- When was the Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room built and registered?
- It was built around 1902 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on January 31, 2003.
Basic Information
| Name | Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room (横屋酒造麹室) |
|---|---|
| Location | 134-1 Kitakata, Senmaya, Senmaya-cho, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2003/1/31 (Heisei 15) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Stone, single storey, tiled roof, building area 159 square metres (about 22 metres by 7 metres) |
| Owner | Ichinoseki City |
| Public Access | Exterior viewable free of charge from the grounds on opening days; interior not regularly open |
References
- Yokoya Sake Brewery Koji Room, Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003037
- Senmaya Sake no Kura Exchange Facility (Senmaya Machizukuri Co., Ltd.)
- https://sakenokura.com/wp/kura/
Last verified: 2026.09.25
