Shioya Brewery Uwamise

What the Shioya Brewery Uwamise Is

The Shioya Brewery Uwamise (塩屋醸造うわみせ, also written 上店) is an early Meiji shop building at 537 Oaza Suzaka, Suzaka City, Nagano Prefecture, standing on the street front of the Shioya miso and soy sauce brewery, and was listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 15 May 2007. It is a two-storey building finished in the fire-resistant Nuriya-zukuri manner, with a gabled pantile roof, entered from the long side, and covers 35 square metres. The listing includes a gate.

Suzaka City writes the name as 上店, the upper shop. The building stands just west of the main house, facing north along the city road, and measures 3 bays by 3 and a half. The ground floor was the shop, laid out with a beaten-earth floor and a boarded room; the upper floor was once the retirement quarters of the household, with two 6-mat tatami rooms.

The street front runs from west to east as soy sauce storehouse, uwamise, gate and shop. The Shioya Brewery Uwamise sits in the middle of that sequence, linking the storehouse to the main house.

Why It Was Listed

The Shioya Brewery Uwamise was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that its upper-floor eaves are built out in the Degeta-zukuri manner, giving it a character distinct from the main house.

Its use explains its form. The retired head of the family lived upstairs overlooking the street while trade carried on below. One small building held both a change of generations and the daily round of the shop.

Sealing the outer walls in earth plaster was the town merchant's standard defence against fire. Combining that with projecting-beam eaves on the upper front is what sets the uwamise apart from its neighbour.

What to Look For

Look up at the upper eaves. On the Shioya Brewery Uwamise, brackets run out from the posts and carry a beam at their tips, so the eaves project well forward and cast a shadow of timberwork beneath them. Set that against the main house next door, whose upper walls and eaves are sealed in white plaster, and the two faces of the same street front could hardly be more different.

The building itself is small. At 35 square metres it is modest beside the soy sauce storehouse at 162 square metres and the main house at 210 square metres, and in the street row it looks like a slim building squeezed between larger ones. The projecting eaves give it more presence from the street than its size suggests.

The listed gate stands between the uwamise and the shop. Walk the frontage in order, storehouse, uwamise, gate, shop, and the gate marks the point where the brewing buildings give way to the trading ones.

Visiting

We found no information on public access to the interior of the Shioya Brewery Uwamise (checked 27 September 2026). The upper floor was a private retirement suite and is not named among the tour stops.

The exterior can be seen from the city road at any time. The projecting upper eaves are clearest from the opposite side of the street, where you can compare them directly with the main house.

We found no statement on photography in the official information (checked 27 September 2026). When photographing the front from the road, keep clear of the shop entrance.

Directions, shop hours and how to book the brewery tour are covered on the Shioya Brewery page.