A Long Shed for the Brewery's Rice
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Front Grain Bin (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅前穀ビツ) is a late-Meiji grain store belonging to a working sake brewery on the old Nakasendō road in Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 September 2000. It is a single-storey timber building under a tiled roof with a floor area of 28 square metres, owned by Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.
It stands north of the former coopers' workshop, along the western boundary of the estate, a long and narrow Kirizuma-zukuri gabled shed roofed with Sangawara-buki pantiles. It is only one bay deep, about 1.8 metres. The eastern face is built with projecting eave beams, and a low wooden step runs along the front. Thirteen compartments open onto that face: five closed by single hinged doors and eight closed by twelve horizontal boards dropped into slots one above another.
A kokubitsu is a bin for grain, and here the whole building is made as one long, partitioned bin. The estate has a second one, the rear grain bin, an L-shaped building of the Taisho era. The front grain bin is the older of the two, from the decades when the brewery, founded in 1868, was putting its rice storage in order.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the grain bin under the criterion of being not easily reproduced, and the Agency's commentary values it as a facility that records how a sake brewery stored its raw material. Cellars and shopfronts survive at many breweries; the sheds that held the rice are the first to be pulled down once they fall out of use. The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Front Grain Bin is a survivor of that easily lost kind.
The drop-board doorways work simply. Boards are slid in from the top to close the compartment as the rice level rises, and lifted out from the bottom to draw rice off. Twelve boards also serve as a gauge: the number in place shows how much grain the compartment holds.
The narrow plan and single-bay depth exist so that rice can be sorted and managed by compartment, by origin, by variety or by degree of polishing. Thirteen compartments work like the columns of a ledger. The shape of the building is a record of the brewery's method.
What to Look For
The grain bin is on the western side of the brewing yard and cannot be seen from the road. Enter on the open day, pass north of the former coopers' workshop, and a long low tiled roof runs along the western fence. That is the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Front Grain Bin.
Stand on the eastern side and count the openings: five hinged doors, eight slotted doorways. Check that the slots hold twelve boards, and look at the wear along the board edges, the trace of years of lifting them in and out.
The deep eaves on their projecting beams and the low step in front are working details. The eaves keep rain off the doorways and the step is a stage for setting down rice bales. Stand there and it is easy to picture a worker shouldering a bale and sliding the boards in one by one.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Front Grain Bin lies along the western edge of the brewing yard and is not visible from the old Nakasendō. On the open day around the spring equinox it can be seen as the long shed north of the former coopers' workshop. The areas open to visitors vary from year to year, so follow the day's guidance.
Takeshige Honke is a working brewery and the Takeshige family's home. The buildings are not open to the public on a regular basis, and the only routine way into the compound is to call at the office and shop during business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. It closes on weekends, national holidays, the New Year period and the old-calendar Bon holiday in summer. Once a year, around the spring equinox (usually 20 or 21 March), the brewery holds an open day, when visitors can walk through the fermentation cellars and taste the sake. For the 2026 open day a chartered shuttle bus ran from Sakudaira Station. The brewery also arranges reservation-only tastings in a converted cellar, some of which include a short tour, so it is worth checking the official website before travelling.
The nearest station is Sakudaira on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. From there, a Chikuma Bus bound for Mochizuki and Ashida stops at Motai-iriguchi, about two minutes on foot from the brewery, but the service runs on weekdays only. At weekends, plan on a taxi or car: the drive is about 30 minutes and roughly 15 kilometres. From the Joshin-etsu Expressway, both the Saku and Yunomaru interchanges are about 30 minutes away by car. Photography from the public road is unrestricted; inside the compound, follow the staff's guidance during events.
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Q&A
- When was the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Front Grain Bin built?
- In the late Meiji period. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives late Meiji, within the years 1868 to 1911, without a specific date.
- What is a grain bin in this context?
- A building made as one long partitioned bin for storing the brewery's rice. It is a single-storey timber shed of 28 square metres, only one bay deep.
- How do the doorways of the front grain bin work?
- Five compartments have hinged doors; eight are closed by twelve horizontal boards dropped into slots, added from the top as rice is loaded and removed from the bottom to draw it off.
- Can visitors see the front grain bin?
- Not from the road. It can be seen on the brewery's open day as the long shed along the western fence north of the former coopers' workshop.
- Why was it registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 under the criterion of being not easily reproduced, as a rare surviving record of how a sake brewery stored its raw rice.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Front Grain Bin |
|---|---|
| Location | 2179 Higashimachi, Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 26 September 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single storey, tiled roof, floor area 28 square metres (1 bay deep) |
| Owner | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (working brewery and private home); shop entry weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; interiors on the open day around the spring equinox |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: 武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅前穀ビツ
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001805
- Saku City: Motai Ai-no-shuku (Nakasendo rest station)
- https://www.city.saku.nagano.jp/kanko/kanko/spot/nakasendo/motaiainoshuku/motaiainoshuku.html
- Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery, official website
- https://takeshige-honke.jp/
- Shinshu Tateshina Tourism Association: Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery
- https://shirakabakogen.jp/spot/takeshiga_honke_syuzo
Last verified: 2026.09.10