The Storage Cellar at Nagano Meijo
Once sake has been brewed and pressed, it needs somewhere to rest, and at Nagano Meijo in Hachiman, Chikuma, that place is the chozogura. It stands to the east of the main brewing hall on a north-south axis, a single-storey earthen-walled building measuring about 9.7 meters along the ridge and 7.0 meters across, with a tiled roof and a footprint near 68 square meters. Inside, rows of storage tanks hold the finished clear sake as it settles and matures.
The clever part is the roof. Although counted as a single storey, the building uses a raised-beam framing method called noboribari to carry the roof, which lets the interior rise into a tall, open volume without an intervening floor. From outside, the proportions read as two levels. The floor is a hard tamped-earth surface, a tataki, that keeps the space cool and stable, exactly the conditions maturing sake prefers.
Why It Is Protected
The storage cellar was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in December 2014, one of the Nagano Meijo buildings recognized as a group. Its fabric dates to the late Edo period, roughly 1830 to 1868, placing it among the older structures on the grounds.
Its value lies partly in engineering and partly in setting. The noboribari roof is a piece of carpentry logic, using angled beams to win height and openness from a modest footprint, and the tall interior it creates is well suited to holding tanks of sake. The cellar also faces the working yard at the core of the compound, so it helps shape the everyday scene of the brewery, the open space where casks, tanks, and hands have moved for generations. That contribution to the working landscape is exactly what the register was set up to protect.
What to Look For
Nagano Meijo dates its founding to 1689, when the Wada family began brewing, and it is the only sake brewery still working in Chikuma, run today by the fifteenth generation. Everything it makes is junmai, and the water comes from the same source that feeds the terraced rice fields of Obasute above the town. The brewery sells under the Obasute Masamune name, among others.
On the seasonal tour, the storage cellar shows the quiet, patient end of the brewing year, the stage after the drama of fermentation, when the sake simply waits. Step inside and the temperature drops, the light softens, and the tall framing overhead comes into view. It is a reminder that a brewery is not only about making, but about the careful keeping that follows.
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Q&A
- Can I visit the storage cellar?
- It is shown on the guided brewery tour, held from mid-May to late September with advance booking. The grounds are a working brewery and not open freely.
- Why does a one-storey building look like two?
- The roof uses raised beams called noboribari, which create a tall single interior with no middle floor. From outside the proportions suggest two levels.
- What is stored inside?
- Tanks of finished clear sake, kept on a tamped-earth floor that helps hold a cool, steady temperature while the sake matures.
- How is it different from the other storehouses?
- The lees storehouse ages kasu and the rice storehouse held grain, while this cellar stores the finished sake itself, the last stage before bottling.
Basic Information
| Name | Nagano Meijo Storage Cellar (Nagano Meijo Chozogura) |
|---|---|
| Location | 272-5 Nakahara, Yawata, Chikuma City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), registered 19 December 2014 |
| Structure | Single-storey earthen-walled building, tiled roof, floor area about 68 square meters |
| Date | Late Edo period (1830 to 1868) |
| Owner | Wada Shuten (operated as Nagano Meijo Co., Ltd.) |
| Access | Guided brewery tour by advance reservation, mid-May to late September |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties — Nagano Meijo Chozogura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010291
- Nagano Meijo Co., Ltd. — official site
- https://www.obasute.co.jp/
- Chikuma City — list of cultural properties
- https://www.city.chikuma.lg.jp/soshiki/rekishibunkazaicenter/rekishi_bunkazai/2/1875.html
Last verified: 2026.07.03