Kinshi Masamune Horino Memorial Museum (Former Horino Family Residence)

Kinshi Masamune Horino Memorial Museum

The Kinshi Masamune Horino Memorial Museum (キンシ正宗堀野記念館) on Sakaimachi-dori in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a sake brewer's museum with three buildings registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 4, 2000: a Meiji-era main house, the Tenmei Storehouse built before 1864, and a document storehouse of 1820 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). All three are owned by Kinshi Masamune Co., Ltd.

According to Kyoto City, the founder, from Wakasa, opened a sake brewery on this site in 1781. In 1880 the company moved its brewing to Fushimi in search of better water, but the house and brewing tools have been kept. The museum opened in 1995 and shows brewing tools from the Edo period on.

The Three Buildings

The main house faces the street, with the document storehouse and the Tenmei Storehouse behind (Kyoto City). The main house is a large town house with lattices and slatted windows on a black-plastered front, a formal shoin room upstairs and a sukiya-style room below (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Tenmei Storehouse, once a sake store, keeps an old-style central post under its ridge, and the low document storehouse is dated to 1820 by its ridge tag (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Between the main house and the storehouse lies a courtyard with the Momo-no-i well, used for brewing since the company began (Kyoto City). Each building is described on its own page.

Visiting

According to the Kyoto City transport bureau (as of June 2018), the museum is open from 11:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30), admission is free, and it closes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and some other days. Visitors can taste the well water. Check current opening before you go.