Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) Middle Storehouse

What the Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) Middle Storehouse Is

The Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) Middle Storehouse (瑞穂酢（大西家住宅）中蔵, nakagura) is a single-storey timber brewery store of the late Meiji era (1898 to 1912) in Nakamachi, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 February 2023. It stands on the west side of the Onishi vinegar works, southeast of the North Storehouse, with its ridge running north to south. It covers 87 square metres and was repaired in the late Showa era.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, this was once the pressing room for moromi, the fermented rice mash. The sake that becomes vinegar is obtained by pressing that mash, so the Middle Storehouse handled the step just before the vinegar went to mature in the North Storehouse.

"Middle" describes its position. It joins the North Storehouse at its northwest corner and the South Storehouse at its southern end, and the three share one continuous interior. The Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) Middle Storehouse is the link in that chain.

Why It Was Listed

The Middle Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The agency values it as part of the row of vinegar production buildings along the west side of the estate.

It has tall eaves under a gabled pantile roof, Kirizuma-zukuri with Sangawara-buki, and a lean-to, Geya, on the east. The walls are plastered in Shikkui right up to the eaves, over a base of vertical charred-cedar boards. The high eaves on a single-storey building were presumably meant to give room for pressing equipment and the work around it.

Put the three stores in order of date and a pattern appears: the North Storehouse is mid-Meiji, the Middle Storehouse late Meiji, the South Storehouse early Taisho. The works seem to have been extended southward in stages as the business grew, and the Middle Storehouse marks the middle step.

What to Look For

The interesting thing about the Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) Middle Storehouse is that it does not stand alone. It meets the North Storehouse at a corner and the South Storehouse at its gable end, with no dividing wall, so materials could move along the row without regard to where one building ends and the next begins.

The east lean-to adds a low roof to the tall main body and spreads the working area outward. The South Storehouse has a lean-to on the same side, so seen from the east the two stores repeat the same rhythm of high eaves and low pent roof.

White plaster over a charred-cedar base is shared with other stores on the site, but on a single-storey building with such tall eaves, the white wall reads as a tall panel and the dark band below stands out all the more.

Visiting

The Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) Middle Storehouse lies within a working brewery and is closed to the public (checked 17 September 2026). Because its interior runs straight into the North and South Storehouses, it is not shown as a separate building either.

Sitting southeast of the North Storehouse, it is screened by that building when seen from the north street and is hard to make out from outside. Seeing it depends on any tour the owners may arrange.