Nagano Meijo Sake Storehouse

The Working Heart of the Brewery

The Nagano Meijo Sake Storehouse (長野銘醸酒蔵, Nagano Meijō Sakagura) is a large late Edo-period brewing storehouse at the centre of the Nagano Meijo sake brewery in Yahata, Chikuma City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 19, 2014.

Built between 1830 and 1868, it was altered in the Meiji and Taisho periods and again in 1945 and 1967. It is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri building with clay walls and a tiled roof, and at 529 square metres it is by far the largest structure on the site, its ridge running north to south. The registration number is 20-0467.

The lees storehouse adjoins it to the north, the rice storehouse stands to the west and the storage warehouse to the east. Of the twelve buildings registered together in 2014, this is the one where sake is actually made.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a ground floor divided in two. The northern half is where rice is washed and the finished mash pressed; the southern half is where fermentation takes place. Upstairs were the koji room and the yeast-starter room, and a shrine to Matsuo, the god of sake brewing, still stands there. The description calls it the central building of the brewery and a record of the master brewer's work.

The registration criterion is contribution to the historic landscape. When Chikuma's "Tsuki no Miyako Chikuma" story was recognised as Japan Heritage in 2020, the Nagano Meijo Sake Storehouse was chosen as one of its component properties.

Sake brewing runs from washing and steaming rice, through growing koji mould and a yeast starter, to fermenting the mash and pressing it. Here the stages that need warmth and cleanliness went upstairs, while the wet work of washing rice and the heavy work of fermenting and pressing stayed on the ground. The plan of the building follows the process.

What to Look For

Scale

Most of the storehouses on the site cover somewhere between 30 square metres and 150 square metres. At 529, the Nagano Meijo Sake Storehouse is in a different league, and that size is what allowed a whole brewing season's work to happen under one roof.

The Upper Floor

A koji room is where steamed rice is inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae mould, and a yeast-starter room is where the culture that drives fermentation is raised; both must be kept warm and clean. Putting them upstairs kept them away from the water and traffic below. The Matsuo shrine on the same floor is a common sight in Japanese breweries, where the deity of Matsuo Taisha in Kyoto is honoured as the patron of sake.

Layers of Repair

Four rounds of alteration sit on top of the Edo-period frame, the price of keeping a large working building in use as brewing methods changed. What each round involved is not recorded in the published sources.

Visiting the Nagano Meijo Sake Storehouse

The Nagano Meijo Sake Storehouse stands in the middle of the compound, screened by other buildings, so it cannot be seen from the road. It is still in use for brewing, and how much of the interior you see depends on the tour. During the brewing season access may be limited for hygiene reasons, so ask when you book.

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