The brick chimney at the centre of the brewery
Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney (正木本店会所場・釜場・煙突, Masaki Honten Kaishoba, Kamaba, Entotsu) is a late Taishō era brewery structure in the town of Matsuno, Kitauwa District, Ehime Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 October 2017. The meeting room and boiler room form a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a floor area of 145 square meters; the chimney is brick and stands 14 meters high. All three elements are registered as one property.
The building occupies the inner corner where the storage warehouse and the brewing hall meet at a right angle. The boiler room abuts the west face of the storage warehouse directly, and the meeting room projects to the north as a space of twelve and a half Tatami mats. One large Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof covers the whole. This is a plan that leans on its neighbours; it could not stand as a free-standing building.
The kamaba is where rice was steamed. Water was boiled in a large cauldron and a wooden vat set above it to carry the steam through the grain, and the brewing day began here. The kaishoba was the room where the people who worked in the brewery gathered, for discussion, for keeping accounts, and for rest. The place of labour and the place of company sit under one roof.
A landmark 14 meters tall
The chimney rises inside the boiler room, starting at floor level and passing out through the roof. Its section is a square 1.8 meters on a side, built up in brick to a height of 14 meters. A square shaft rather than a round one was the simpler thing to lay in brick, and at this scale a square section was sufficient.
That height puts it firmly in the view of anyone walking the former Matsumaru Kaidō. The roofs of the town run to two storeys, so a brick shaft standing a head above them announces the brewery from a distance. The Agency for Cultural Affairs entry notes that the chimney gives the site a character appropriate to a sake brewery.
Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney was registered under a single criterion, contribution to the historic landscape of the country, as number 38-121, the last of the five numbers issued to this site. One detail is worth recording: the register gives the name with the character for kama meaning cauldron, while the structural description uses a different kama meaning kiln. This article follows the registered name.
Finding the chimney from the road
Because it sits deep in the plot, the building itself cannot be seen from the old road. What is visible is the upper part of the chimney: a reddish brown shaft breaking the skyline beyond the tiled roof of the shop and above the white wall of the storage warehouse.
Spotting it gives you the depth of the site. Running inward from the road the order is shop and main house, storage warehouse, then the boiler room and meeting room against the warehouse's west face, then the brewing hall crossing at right angles, and the draft sake warehouse furthest north. The chimney stands near the middle of that sequence and marks the centre of the working yard.
Brick changes colour with the weather and the hour. Under cloud it reads as a muted red brown; in late afternoon sun it warms toward orange. Between grey roof tiles and white plaster, it is the one element on the site made of something else, and that difference carries at a distance.
Visiting
Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney is privately owned, and no interior opening is announced by the town of Matsuno or by Ehime Prefecture. In practice a visit means looking at the upper part of the chimney from the public road. Please do not enter the grounds.
Photography from public roads is unrestricted. For the chimney, step back from the old road to see the group of buildings obliquely, or find slightly higher ground; setting the shaft against open sky gives the cleanest outline.
The nearest station is Matsumaru on the JR Yodo Line, about three minutes on foot to the north. Leaving the station and walking toward the old road, it is worth watching the skyline ahead to see when the chimney comes into view. Drivers should use National Route 381 and park near the station rather than entering the narrow old road. Enquiries go to the Furusato Sōsei Section of Matsuno Town Hall, telephone 0895-42-1116.
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Q&A
- Can visitors see Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney?
- No interior opening is announced. The property is privately owned and sits deep in the plot, so what you can see from the public road is chiefly the upper part of the chimney. Please stay off the grounds.
- How tall is the chimney of Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney?
- It stands 14 meters high, with a square section 1.8 meters on a side. It is built of brick and rises from inside the boiler room, passing out through the roof.
- What was the kaishoba in Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney used for?
- It was the room where brewery workers gathered, for discussion, accounts and rest. Here it projects north from the main volume as a space of twelve and a half tatami mats.
- When was Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney built and registered?
- It dates from the late Taishō era, about 1919 to 1926. It became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 October 2017, with register number 38-121.
- Where is Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney?
- At 86 Matsumaru, Matsuno-cho, Kitauwa-gun, Ehime Prefecture, about three minutes on foot from Matsumaru Station, in the inner corner where the storage warehouse and the brewing hall meet.
Basic Information
| Name | Masaki Honten Meeting Room, Boiler Room and Chimney (正木本店会所場・釜場・煙突) |
|---|---|
| Location | 86 Matsumaru, Matsuno-cho, Kitauwa-gun, Ehime Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 27 October 2017 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Meeting room and boiler room: timber, single storey, tiled roof, floor area 145 square meters. Chimney: brick, height 14 meters |
| Owner | Not published in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database |
| Public Access | Interior closed. The upper chimney is visible from the public road |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Masaki Honten Kaishoba, Kamaba and Chimney (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012070
- Cultural Heritage Online, Masaki Honten Kaishoba, Kamaba and Chimney
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/247291
- Minutes of the 183rd Cultural Properties Subdivision, Council for Cultural Affairs, 21 July 2017
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/bunkazai/17/pdf/r1395986_04.pdf
- The former Matsumaru Kaido (Matsuno Town Hall, Furusato Sosei Section)
- https://www.town.matsuno.ehime.jp/soshiki/3/1263.html
- List of Registered Cultural Properties in Ehime (Ehime Prefectural Board of Education)
- https://ehime-c.esnet.ed.jp/bunkazai/kennobunkazai/tourokubunkazai/bun-touroku2.htm
Last verified: 2026.09.05