The Big One at the Back
Of the storehouses ranged behind the main house, the tool storehouse is the largest. It runs about ten ken along its length and four and a half across, a two-storey plaster building of roughly 219 square metres beside the brewing storehouse. A generous lean-to projects on the east to carry the doorway.
The scale is easiest to grasp inside. Each floor is a single room, and six free-standing pillars stand in the space to take the roof beams directly, carrying the purlins above. The building dates from 1918, and it helps shape the western side of the compound.
What Size Tells You
A storehouse this large is itself a statement about the business that built it. The tonic-sake enterprise needed room for equipment, stock and the working gear of a growing operation, and the tool storehouse supplied it on a scale that a small family workshop would never require. Standing among the back buildings, it marks the point where a household recipe had become an industrial concern.
The register lists the building for its contribution to the historic landscape, and from the west it does much of the visual work of the compound, its long gabled roof reading clearly against the sky. Where the buildings near the house draw the eye with colour, this one holds attention through sheer size and the honest logic of its structure.
Seeing It on a Visit
The tool storehouse sits in the working row behind the main house, and its bulk is best appreciated from the grounds on the western side, where the long roof and the projecting entrance are clearest. Inside, the rhythm of six pillars gives a sense of the open floor the building was made to provide.
The compound is owned by the city of Nagaoka and opens for guided visits on weekends and holidays, with restoration steadily bringing more of the back range into view. A guide can point out how the tool storehouse relates to the brewing and preparation buildings alongside it.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Niigata
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Kina Saffron Sake Manufacturing Head Office Tool
- [ Sado Island & Echigo-Yuzawa Ski Resort Tours ]
Q&A
- Why is it called the tool storehouse?
- It served as storage for equipment and working gear. As the largest storehouse on the site, it gave the growing business room for the apparatus a small workshop would not need.
- How big is it?
- It measures about ten ken by four and a half, with a floor area of roughly 219 square metres over two storeys, making it the largest of the compound's storehouses.
- Why are there six pillars inside?
- Six free-standing pillars carry the roof beams directly, a plain structural approach that supports a wide span while leaving each floor as a single open room.
- What does its size tell us about the business?
- A storehouse on this scale reflects a household recipe that had grown into an industrial operation needing substantial room for stock and equipment.
- Can I go inside?
- The back buildings are being opened gradually as restoration continues. On a guided visit the scale and structure can be explained from the grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kina Saffron Sake Manufacturing, Tool Storehouse (旧機那サフラン酒製造本舗道具蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1027 and others, Settaya 4-chōme, Nagaoka, Niigata |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered 4 February 2021) |
| Construction | Taishō 7 (1918) |
| Structure | Two-storey plaster storehouse, pantile roof; building area approx. 219 m² |
| Count | 1 building |
| Owner | City of Nagaoka |
| Access | Grounds open on weekends and holidays; interior access expanding with restoration |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database — Tool Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013525
- City of Nagaoka, Former Kina Saffron Sake Manufacturing
- https://www.city.nagaoka.niigata.jp/kankou/miru/brewing/kina-saffron.html
- Settaya-Miyauchi, Kina Saffron Sake
- https://settaya-miyauchi.jp/kinasaffron/
- Nagaoka Tourism Navigator, Kina Saffron Sake
- https://nagaoka-navi.or.jp/spot/5880
Last verified: 2026.07.09