Kato Sake Brewery

A Sake Brewer's House on the Old Shimabara Road, Founded in 1877

Kato Sake Brewery (加藤酒造, Katō Shuzō) is a sake-brewing house founded in 1877 in Omisaki, Ariake-cho, Shimabara City, Nagasaki Prefecture, and five of its structures, the store and main house, the gate, the front and rear earthen walls and the well, were listed together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on October 23, 2008. They date from the early Meiji era to the Taishō era.

The district name 大三東 is read Ōmisaki. According to Nagasaki Prefecture's cultural property database, the Kato family came to Shimabara in the service of the Matsudaira, the lords who were transferred here from Fukuchiyama in Tanba Province, and first settled in the Mie district of Shimabara. The first head of the brewery, Shinzaemon (新左衛門宗清), began making sake on the present site in 1877 (Meiji 10). The family's trading name, or yagō, is written 神力屋.

The prefecture notes that when the buildings were registered, part of the house was still in use as a liquor shop. In the Agency for Cultural Affairs database the owner field is blank for all five entries; the prefecture lists the owner as a private individual.

How the Five Structures of Kato Sake Brewery Sit on the Lot

Kato Sake Brewery fronts the old Shimabara Kaidō road. In the prefecture's description, the brewing storehouses stand on the east side of the property and the main house on the west. The storehouses are not among the registered structures.

Walking the street front with the agency's notes in hand, the layout reads like this. The store and main house faces north onto the road, with the gate just to its west. The front earthen wall carries on west from the gate along the road, then turns south at the northwest corner of the lot. Behind the house, past the earth-floored passage (Toriniwa), the well sits near the middle of the property, and the rear earthen wall runs west from the back of the house before turning north at the southwest corner.

The house, gate and front wall make up the face the property shows the street; the well and the rear wall belong to the inner yard. The prefecture describes the combination of a two-tier roof with a deep lower eave (Geya), a garden laid out in front of the reception rooms and walls enclosing it all as characteristic of townhouses along the Shimabara road, and values Kato Sake Brewery as a typical example of the local Machiya.

Registration Details of Kato Sake Brewery

The five structures of Kato Sake Brewery were registered in the 61st round of listings, announced in the official gazette on November 10, 2008. Their registration numbers run in sequence: 42-0074 for the store and main house, 42-0075 for the well, 42-0076 for the gate, 42-0077 for the front earthen wall and 42-0078 for the rear earthen wall.

The store and main house was registered as a model of design, and the other four as contributors to the historic landscape. The agency dates the store and main house and the well to the early Meiji era. The rear wall is also early Meiji but was repaired in the Taishō era, while the gate and the front wall are Taishō-era work, and the front wall was renovated again around 1965.

Visiting Kato Sake Brewery

The five structures of Kato Sake Brewery belong to a private home, and no public opening of the interior or the grounds could be confirmed. The store and main house, the gate and the front earthen wall all face the road and can be seen from the street. The well stands near the centre of the lot and is not visible from outside, and it is unconfirmed whether the outer face of the rear wall can be seen from a public road.

Even if the shop is still trading, as the prefecture reported at the time of registration, do not walk into the living quarters or the inner yard without permission, and keep photography to the exterior as seen from the street.

The nearest station is Ariake-Yue on the Shimabara Railway, the line between Isahaya and Shimabara-ko. Kato Sake Brewery lies about 750 meters southeast of the station in a straight line; allow 10 to 15 minutes on foot.