Matsuo Sake Brewery South Sake Storehouse

A Two-Storey Storehouse for Keeping Sake

The Matsuo Sake Brewery South Sake Storehouse (松尾酒造南酒蔵, Matsuo Shuzō Minami-sakagura) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri earthen storehouse of the early Taisho period at Matsuo Sake Brewery in Nishihonmachi, Tosayamada-cho, Kami City, Kochi Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on July 1, 2003. It was built as a storage storehouse and has a building area of 61 square meters.

It stands south of the north sake storehouse and southeast of the west sake storehouse, its ridge running east to west. Of the brewery's three listed storehouses it is the smallest, and the only one built after the Meiji era.

A Gable End Turned to the Road

It measures 5 Ken by 3 ken, about 9.1 by 5.5 meters if one ken is taken as 1.82 meters. The gabled roof is laid with pantiles.

Where the north storehouse lays its long side along the road, the Matsuo Sake Brewery South Sake Storehouse points its triangular east gable at the street and runs back into the lot. The two neighbors meet the road at right angles to each other.

The east face is finished to match the north storehouse: vertical boards (Tateita-bari) along the lower wall and boards covering the gable bargeboards. The two buildings are separated by the change from Meiji to Taisho, yet with matching street faces they read as a single line of storehouses. The south face carries Mizukiri-gawara, ledges of tile that throw rainwater off the wall.

Why It Was Registered

The Matsuo Sake Brewery South Sake Storehouse was registered as number 39-0078 for contributing to the historic landscape of the nation.

A brewery needs somewhere to hold pressed sake until it is shipped. The brewery's own history records that it began making mirin at the end of the Meiji period and added shochu in the early Taisho years, so this storage building went up while the range of products was growing. No source directly links its construction to that expansion, however.

Seeing the South Sake Storehouse

The east gable of the Matsuo Sake Brewery South Sake Storehouse faces the road and can be seen from the public street. Walk south along the east road and, past the long white wall of the north storehouse, the triangular gable of this building turns to face you. The tiled ledges on the south face look into the lot and may be hard to see from the road.

The interior is open only on the brewery's weekday tours, booked in advance. Which storehouses are included is not published, so ask about this one when you book, and check photography rules at the same time.