Ayagiku Sake Brewery (formerly Izumiya Sake Brewery) Middle Sake Storehouse

A 34-Meter Storehouse Facing the Road

The Ayagiku Sake Brewery (formerly Izumiya Sake Brewery) Middle Sake Storehouse (綾菊酒造（旧泉谷酒造場）仲酒蔵, Naka Sakagura) is a single-story, earthen-walled Dozo-zukuri brewing storehouse from the early Showa period in Yamadashita, Ayagawa Town, Kagawa Prefecture, registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 2, 2006. It is the central one of the three storehouses that line up at Ayagiku Sake Brewery.

The Middle Sake Storehouse is long and thin. It runs 34 meters from end to end but is only 7.5 meters wide, more than four times as long as it is broad, with a building area of 318 square meters. Its south gable end faces the east–west road that runs parallel to the Ayagawa River.

The words "formerly Izumiya Sake Brewery" in the registered name record that this building once belonged to the Izumiya brewery (Izumiya Shuzōjō). The East Sake Storehouse next door and the Detached Tatami Room to the southeast carry the same prefix.

Two Roofs on One Building

The Middle Sake Storehouse was registered, as number 37-0304, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out the brand name worked in white Shikkui plaster on the south gable, calling the building a standout in its surroundings. That gable is the first thing anyone on the road sees of the brewery.

The roof is not one simple shape. The southern portion has a hipped-and-gabled Irimoya-zukuri roof in Sangawara-buki pan tiles. The northern portion rises a step higher under a plain gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof laid in heavier Hongawarabuki, the traditional system of alternating round and flat tiles. So within a single storehouse, roof form, tile type and ridge height all change between the street end and the rear. A lean-to Geya extends along the west side.

Inside, the roof rests on a King post truss, a Western triangulated frame. Behind the thick plastered walls of a traditional storehouse sits an imported structural idea that lets a long roof span with few posts, a sign that a rural brewery in early Showa was willing to borrow new engineering while keeping the old look.

What to Look For

Start square-on to the south gable. The brand name painted in plaster on the white wall is what makes the Ayagiku Middle Sake Storehouse a local landmark. Look at how the lettering sits under the point where the hipped roof breaks at the top of the gable.

Then move a little along the road and view the building at an angle. Behind the hipped-and-gabled roof in front, the taller gabled ridge of the northern section should appear, stacked one level higher. The tiles change too: flat pan tiles at the front, the deeper rhythm of round-and-flat hongawara behind.

The 34-meter length makes most sense when you compare it with its neighbors. Of the three storehouses the Middle Sake Storehouse is by far the narrowest, a slim building squeezed between the broad East and West Sake Storehouses and running deep into the site.

The king post truss cannot be seen from outside.

Visiting the Middle Sake Storehouse

The Middle Sake Storehouse is still a working part of the brewery. Its exterior, and above all the south gable with the brand name, can be seen from the east–west road in front. The grounds themselves are not open to casual visitors.

Access to the interior is limited to what the brewery shows on its reservation-only tours. The company does not say at which point, if any, a tour enters the Middle Sake Storehouse, and that can change with the day's work, so if you want to see the roof truss, mention it when you book. Ask about photography inside at the same time.