Furusawa Brewery Bottling Operation Center

Furusawa Brewery Bottling Room: A Small Building That Marks a Turning Point

Behind the main house, facing south, stands the smallest building on the Furusawa site, the bottling room. Built in the early Shōwa period, sometime between 1926 and 1945, it measures just 31 square meters. It is a single-story earthen-walled structure with a gabled sangawara pantile roof, its pillars set every half-ken and the roof framed as a wagoya, a Japanese-style truss.

Why It Is Protected

For a working service building it is unexpectedly dressed up. The outer walls are plastered above a mortar skirt, and the doorway is crowned with a pediment, a Western touch, alongside other careful detailing. The building marks the point where brewing here began to modernize, as shochu moved from cask to bottle. The Agency for Cultural Affairs registered it on November 2, 2018 as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, describing it as an accent among the brewing facilities on the grounds.

What to Look For

Set beside the earthen storehouses and the black-plastered townhouse, the little bottling room strikes a different note. Its pediment nods to Western fashion while its walls stay true to local plaster and tile. It shows a family brewery adapting to a new century without letting go of its craft.

Look for the pediment above the door. It is easy to miss and worth the glance.