Matsumoto Sake Brewery Ginjo Brewhouse

A Timber Brewhouse with a Tortoiseshell Vent

Matsumoto Sake Brewery Ginjo Brewhouse (松本酒造吟醸酒蔵) is a single-storey timber brewery building in Yokooji Misu Daikokucho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, dating from the Taisho era (1912 to 1926) and listed as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 24 December 2013. It stands north of the Daikokugura, alongside the Sakagura Hall, and covers 80 square metres, making it the smallest of Matsumoto's registered brewery buildings.

The national database dates it only to the Taisho period. Kyoto City's citation is more specific, placing it at about the same time as the Sakagura Hall of 1924. It was the third of the storehouses Matsumoto built after arriving in Fushimi.

Ginjo is premium sake brewed from rice polished well down and fermented slowly at low temperature. The name points to that use, but whether this building was used for ginjo from the start is not confirmed by the published sources.

Boards Instead of Clay

The brewhouse measures 11 metres by 7.3 metres under a gabled roof of sangawara pantiles, with Western-style trusses. The entrance is in the east gable. Its 7.3-metre span matches the Sakagura Hall next door exactly.

Where the Daikokugura and Sakagura Hall are earthen-walled storehouses, the Ginjo Brewhouse is plain timber, finished in boards. The long walls combine vertical boarding with overlapping clapboard. The gable walls are boarded on the diagonal, and at the centre of each sits a single ventilation opening shaped like a tortoiseshell hexagon.

The kikko or tortoiseshell pattern has long been used in Japan as an emblem of longevity. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the vent as the building's accent. A purely practical opening was given one decorative touch, and that small decision is what you remember.

What to Look For

The brewhouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, as one of the group of storehouses on Matsumoto's riverside site.

Everything interesting is on the gable ends: the diagonal boards and the hexagonal vent at their centre. Both set the gables apart from the vertical and overlapping boards of the long sides. The east gable, with the door, faces into the site.

Beside its large earthen-walled neighbours the building is easy to overlook. Notice that each face is boarded differently, though, and the care of the carpenters becomes plain.

Seeing the Ginjo Brewhouse

The interior is not open. Matsumoto does not run tours and the premises are private.

The brewhouse is small and sits north of the Daikokugura and Sakagura Hall, so it is hard to see whole from outside the site. Only a few vantage points show the gable vent; a telephoto lens or binoculars will help. Photographs are taken from the public road or the riverside.