Nagano Meijo Document Storehouse

A Black-Walled Treasure Store

The Nagano Meijo Document Storehouse (長野銘醸文庫蔵, Nagano Meijō Bunko-gura) is an early Meiji-period two-storey storehouse in the northwest corner of the Nagano Meijo sake brewery in Yahata, Chikuma City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 19, 2014.

It dates from between 1868 and 1882, is built in the Dozo-zukuri manner with a tiled roof, and covers 29 square metres, its ridge running north to south beside the garden. The registration number is 20-0476.

A bunko-gura is usually understood as a store for documents and account books, but the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes this one as a kazai-gura, a strongroom for the household's valuables and possessions. Twelve of the brewery's buildings were registered together in 2014.

Why It Was Registered

The official description dwells on the plasterwork. The double doors with interlocking stepped edges and the carved brackets under the window hoods, it says, show a high level of skill.

A Japanese storehouse is only as good as its weakest joint. Doors and windows are where fire gets in, and sealing them tightly, and handsomely, is where a plasterer proves himself. For a building meant to protect a brewing family's wealth, those details received the most care. The criterion under which it was registered is contribution to the historic landscape.

What to Look For

Black Plaster

The walls of the Nagano Meijo Document Storehouse are finished in black plaster, lime Shikkui tinted dark and pressed repeatedly to raise a sheen, a finish generally regarded as more laborious than white. A drip ledge (mizukiri) and a thick band under the eaves (hachimaki) wrap around the building, catching light against the dark surface.

A Closed Face

The only doorway is on the east side; otherwise there are just a few small windows. The effect is guarded, deliberately so. Fewer openings meant less risk from fire, damp and prying eyes.

Stepped Doors and Window Brackets

The doors are kannon-biraki, a pair of leaves swinging outward, and their edges are finished in kakego-nuri: plaster built up in steps on both door and frame so that, when shut, the steps lock together like a stair meeting its mirror image, leaving no straight path for flame. Above the windows, small hoods rest on Mochiokuri brackets shaped in plaster. If you get the chance, look at a door edge side-on to see how many steps the plasterer cut.

Visiting the Nagano Meijo Document Storehouse

The Nagano Meijo Document Storehouse sits in the northwest corner facing the garden, with its doorway on the inner side, so it can only be seen from within the grounds. It is a household strongroom and the interior is not listed as open.

Directions to the brewery and the arrangements for tours, open days and photography are covered on the Nagano Meijo page.