Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) North Storehouse

What the Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) North Storehouse Is

The Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) North Storehouse (瑞穂酢（大西家住宅）北蔵, kitagura) is a two-storey timber vinegar store of the mid-Meiji era (1883 to 1897) in Nakamachi, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 February 2023. It stands in the northwest part of the Onishi brewery, facing the street to the north, and covers 168 square metres. It was repaired in the late Showa era.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it the building where the family's vinegar production began. Inside is one large, open volume lined with cedar vats 2.5 metres across, in which the vinegar matures. This is where sake becomes vinegar, and where the character of Mizuhosu vinegar is decided.

The mid-Meiji span includes 1894, the year the house obtained its vinegar licence, so the store probably belongs to the years when vinegar became the family's main business.

Why the North Storehouse Was Listed

The North Storehouse was registered as a model of form. Only two of the eleven listed structures on the site qualified on that criterion, this store and the main house; from the brewery side, the North Storehouse was the one chosen.

It is a two-storey gabled building, Kirizuma-zukuri, roofed in pantiles, Sangawara-buki, and entered from the gable end, Tsumairi, with that gable turned to the street. Lean-to extensions, Geya, on the south and east sides enlarge the main hall outward.

The agency also describes the store as a facility that sustains a traditional local industry and gives the district its character. The listing rests not only on its form but on the fact that vinegar is still aged inside.

What to Look For

The stars of the Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) North Storehouse are its cedar vats. At 2.5 metres in diameter, each is far wider than an adult's outstretched arms. Mizuho Co., Ltd. explains that it turns sake into vinegar over at least three months in 30-koku tubs of Yoshino cedar, and the open interior of the North Storehouse is the kind of space such vessels need.

The tubs are more than containers; they help shape the flavour of the house. The company makes them from cedar grown on its own forest land. In 2002 it built one 30-koku tub from a 120-year-old tree, and in 2004 five more from 100-year-old trees, so new and old vessels are both in use in a business still centred on a Meiji-era store.

From outside, look at the big gable wall facing the street. Setting a two-storey brewery store gable-first raises a tall triangle over the north street, and next to the low gatehouse and the small inner storehouse it shows just how large a working vinegar hall is.

Visiting the North Storehouse

The Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) North Storehouse is an active production space where vinegar is still maturing, and its interior is closed (checked 17 September 2026). No opportunity to see the vats inside has been announced.

The exterior can be seen from the public road on the north side; stand toward the western end of the street to face the gable squarely. Fermentation is going on inside, so please do not approach the doors or peer through the windows.