Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) South Storehouse

What the Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) South Storehouse Is

The Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) South Storehouse (瑞穂酢（大西家住宅）南蔵, minamigura) is an early Taisho-era (1912 to 1918) brewery store in Nakamachi, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, mostly single-storey with a partial 2nd floor, entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 February 2023. It continues south from the Middle Storehouse on the west side of the Onishi vinegar works, its ridge running north to south, and covers 143 square metres. It was repaired in the late Showa era.

Inside stands a sakabune, the vat used when pressing fermented mash, and pressing is carried out here. This is where the sake that will become vinegar is separated from the mash, and the interior runs straight on into the Middle Storehouse to the north.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs wording is telling. It calls the Middle Storehouse the former pressing room, but describes the Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) South Storehouse as a facility equipped with a sakabune that does the pressing. Read together, the entries suggest that pressing moved into this newer building.

Why It Was Listed

The South Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The agency places it among the vinegar production buildings on the west side of the estate.

The main body has tall eaves under a gabled pantile roof, Kirizuma-zukuri with Sangawara-buki, and a lean-to, Geya, on the east that is opened up to form one working space with it. At the south end is a materials store built in thick-walled Dozo-zukuri style, and the east lean-to serves as its Tomae, the covered entrance to a storehouse. Work floor and protected store share one building, each suited to its job.

The partial upper floor on an otherwise single-storey building is another distinctive point. At the southern tip of the row that starts with the North and Middle Storehouses, and the newest of the three, it represents the last stage of the brewery's expansion.

What to Look For

The heart of the Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) South Storehouse is the sakabune. In traditional pressing, mash is packed into cloth bags and stacked, and pressure squeezes the sake out into the vat below. That a vinegar maker keeps working sake equipment says everything about a method in which vinegar starts life as sake.

Look also at the earthen materials store at the south end. The tall timber work hall and the thick-walled store join in one building, so the wall construction changes partway along. Because the east lean-to doubles as the store's entrance, materials could probably be brought in from the east without crossing the work floor.

Seen from the east alongside the Middle Storehouse, the two lean-tos should line up on the same side, making the row of vinegar stores look like one long building.

Visiting

The Mizuhosu (Onishi Family Residence) South Storehouse is a working pressing room and is closed to the public (checked 17 September 2026). No chance to see the sakabune has been announced.

It lies south of the Middle Storehouse, deep on the west side of the site, and is hidden behind the other stores when seen from the north street. As it is hard to see from outside, ask the owning company directly if you hope to visit.