What Is the Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House?
The Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House (横屋酒造釜場, Yokoya Shuzō Kamaba) is a single-storey timber workshop from the late Meiji period in Senmaya, Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003.
It stands between the East Storehouse and the Brewing Storehouse and is joined to the latter on its west side, with a building area of 152 square metres. A kamaba is where water was boiled in a great cauldron and its steam used to cook the sake rice; from here the steamed rice went next door to become koji, yeast starter and mash.
Why It Was Registered
From outside the Kamaba is plain, easy to overlook between the massive earthen storehouses. The Agency for Cultural Affairs values it for the wide interior it encloses, a span of about 11 metres, and for doing a job no sake brewery could manage without. If the storehouses were where sake was made and kept, this was where each day's work began.
Steaming rice means open fire and clouds of vapour, which is likely why the brewers built an airy timber shed rather than a sealed kura, and put it right against the brewing hall. That logic of placement, following the order of work, is a large part of its value. Its registration number is 03-0047.
What to Look For
Look up first. Riding the ridge of the gabled sheet-metal roof is a large vent, a raised roof lantern that let the heat and steam of the morning rice-steaming escape. It is the single feature that tells you what the Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House was for.
The walls are Shinkabe construction, with posts left visible, and the roof is carried on trusses. Spanning about 11 metres without interior posts, they leave a broad floor suited to the cauldron, the steaming vat (koshiki) and the rice spread out to cool. A modest timber shed wedged between white earthen giants: the contrast is itself a diagram of who did what in a brewery.
Visiting
The Rice-Steaming House sits inside the brewery cluster, between the Brewing and East storehouses. 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 Rice-Steaming House
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Q&A
- What was the Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House used for?
- Cooking the rice. Water was boiled in a great cauldron and the steam used to cook sake rice, which then went next door to become koji, yeast starter and mash.
- Can you visit the Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House?
- 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.
- Why is the Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House built of timber?
- Steaming rice involves open fire and a lot of vapour, which is likely why an airy timber shed was built instead of a sealed kura. Its walls are post-and-panel and its roof sits on trusses.
- What is the structure on the roof of the Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House?
- A large ridge vent, a raised roof lantern built to release the heat and steam produced while rice was being cooked.
- When was the Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House built and registered?
- It dates from the late Meiji period and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on January 31, 2003.
Basic Information
| Name | Yokoya Sake Brewery Rice-Steaming House (横屋酒造釜場) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Timber, single storey, sheet-metal roof, building area 152 square metres (span about 11 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 Rice-Steaming House, Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003036
- Senmaya Sake no Kura Exchange Facility (Senmaya Machizukuri Co., Ltd.)
- https://sakenokura.com/wp/kura/
Last verified: 2026.09.25
