Matsuo Sake Brewery West Sake Storehouse

A Single-Storey Storehouse Built for Brewing

The Matsuo Sake Brewery West Sake Storehouse (松尾酒造西酒蔵, Matsuo Shuzō Nishi-sakagura) is a single-storey Dozo-zukuri earthen storehouse of the early Meiji 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 shikomigura, the storehouse where steamed rice, koji and water are combined and left to ferment, and has a building area of 113 square meters.

It is one of only two early Meiji buildings among the six listed structures, the other being the north sake storehouse. It stands inside the lot, southwest of the north storehouse, with its ridge running east to west, set back from the roads that the other storehouses face.

Two Rows of Rain-Shedding Tiles

It measures 8 Ken by 4 ken, about 14.5 by 7.3 meters if one ken is taken as 1.82 meters. The gabled roof is laid with pantiles, and the walls are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster.

What sets the Matsuo Sake Brewery West Sake Storehouse apart is the pair of Mizukiri-gawara courses running around its walls: narrow tiled ledges that project from the plaster and throw off rainwater before it can stream down the whole height of the wall. The Agency for Cultural Affairs names this as a feature particular to Tosa, the old name for Kochi, where typhoons and heavy rain are frequent.

A single course of these tiles divides a wall in two; a double course divides it in three. Even on a low single-storey storehouse, the stacked horizontal lines give the white walls more tiers than their height would suggest.

The Only Listing Judged on Design

The Matsuo Sake Brewery West Sake Storehouse was registered as number 39-0077 under the criterion of serving as a model of architectural design. The other five Matsuo structures were all registered for their contribution to the historic landscape; this is the only one assessed on its form.

The Agency's description names the double course of rain-shedding tiles as the building's defining feature, which suggests that the wall construction itself, rather than the view from the street, is what earned it that criterion.

The same description records that at the time of registration the storehouse was being used as the Matsuokina Sake-Brewing and Daily Life Resource Room, so a building put up for mashing sake in the early Meiji years had turned into a place for showing brewing tools and household objects.

Seeing the West Sake Storehouse

The Matsuo Sake Brewery West Sake Storehouse stands inside the grounds, and the Agency does not describe it as facing a road. Assume it is hard to see from outside and plan to view it on one of the brewery's weekday tours, booked in advance.

Whether the resource room is still shown to visitors could not be confirmed from the brewery's or Kochi-tabi's information. When booking, ask whether you can see the resource room and be shown a spot where the tiled courses on the walls are visible. Check photography rules at the same time.