Kayashima Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse

What the Kayashima Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse is

The Kayashima Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse (萱島酒造仕込み蔵, Kayashima Shuzō Shikomigura) is a two-storey timber sake storehouse built in 1914 at Kayashima Sake Brewery in Tsunai, Kunisaki City, Oita Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on January 16, 1998. It has a hipped Yosemune-zukuri tiled roof and a building area of 1,123 m².

The Kayashima Brewing Storehouse is far larger than anything else among the brewery's 14 registered structures, and its registration number, 44-0020, heads the series. The official description introduces the brewery as founded in 1873 and run by four generations of the same family, then describes this building as a large-scale storehouse.

Where the sake is mashed

Shikomi is the stage where steamed rice, koji and water are added to the yeast starter to build the mash. The brewery's own account describes the classic three-stage method: a first addition on day one, a rest on day two while the yeast multiplies (called odori, the dance), a second addition on day three and the final one on day four. After about 20 days the mash goes to the press.

The number of tanks a mashing hall can hold sets how much sake a brewery can make. That the largest building on the site is this one says plainly what the 1910s expansion was for.

Two board floors under a truss roof

According to the official description, the Kayashima Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse has board floors on both levels, and its roof is carried on trusses. Built up from triangles, a truss spans wide without interior posts, which suits a big working storehouse. The Former Muromae of 1894 uses the traditional wagoya frame, so between the two buildings you can see the brewery's way of building change within 20 years.

The storehouse stands at the back of the plot, yet the official description notes that its imposing roof can be seen from outside and is widely familiar. It was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. With roof planes falling on all four sides, the hipped roof reads from the street as a single broad mass of tile rising behind the front buildings.

The North Storehouse of 1906 joins its east side at right angles, the Well House stands to its west, and the 1914 Back Gate adjoins the lean-to on its south side. The Brewing Storehouse is the center of gravity of the brewing buildings at the back of the site.

Seeing the Kayashima Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse

The Kayashima Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse is still used to make sake, and its interior is closed. If you hope to see more, contact the brewery (+81-978-72-1181) in advance or ask at SAKE GALLERY Tohzai on site.

What you can see from outside is mainly the roof. Standing at the back of the plot, the building is hard to view head-on, but from the surrounding streets the hipped tile roof rises clearly above the front buildings.