Iida Family Residence Brewing Storehouse 2

What Brewing Storehouse 2 Is

The Iida Family Residence Brewing Storehouse 2 (飯田家住宅醸造蔵二, Iida-ke Jūtaku Jōzōgura Ni) is an early Meiji-period single-storey timber brewing hall in Toyoshina Takibe, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2005. It comes with a chimney, which the register lists as part of the structure.

Running east to west just south of brewing storehouse 1, it is 16 bays long (about 29 meters) and 6 bays deep, with a building area of 317 square meters, the third-largest building on the estate after the main house and brewing storehouse 1. Its registration number is 20-0244.

A jōzōgura is where the main fermentation took place: rice, koji and water were added to the yeast starter and the mash was left to ferment. The estate has two such halls, and this is the older one.

Why It Was Registered

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Iida Family Residence Brewing Storehouse 2 shapes the view of the estate from the east. The east gable of its long block and the chimney beside it act as the landmark on that side.

Its early Meiji date means more when set beside its neighbours. Brewing storehouse 1 (late Meiji) and the yeast starter storehouse (1914) both use Western-style roof trusses. This hall was framed in the traditional wagoya way, so the estate's brewery buildings show old and new roof structures side by side.

What to Look For

The roof is a low, gently pitched Kirizuma-zukuri gable covered in sheet metal. Kept low across a 6-bay span, it lets the long block hug the ground.

Under that roof is a Wagoya frame, with short struts standing on heavy tie beams to carry the ridge and purlins. The interior is not open, but the difference from the truss-framed halls next door mirrors the gap in their dates.

The walls are plastered okabe, concealing the posts, with Shitami-itabari boarding at the base and small windows fitted with vertical bars. The feature that sets the Iida Family Residence Brewing Storehouse 2 apart, though, is the chimney. Brewery chimneys generally served the fires used to steam rice, and this one draws a vertical line beside the long, low hall.

Viewing Brewing Storehouse 2

The Iida Family Residence Brewing Storehouse 2 is inside a private residence and the interior is closed.

Since the Agency credits it with the view from the east, the east side of the estate is the place to look from. The chimney is easy to spot from a distance. Photograph only what is visible from public roads.

How to reach the estate and what to keep in mind there are explained on the Iida Family Residence page.