Naruko Family Residence Sake Brewhouse No. 4

A Long Brewhouse, Gable to the Street

The Naruko Family Residence Sake Brewhouse No. 4 (成子家住宅酒蔵四, Naruko-ke Jūtaku Sakagura Yon) in Ozaki, Hannan City, Osaka Prefecture, is a Taisho-era (1912–1926) sake brewhouse at the Naniwa Shuzo brewery, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 12 October 2001. It is a two-storey timber building with a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles and a building area of 227 square metres.

Its gable end faces the front street and it closes the southwest side of the compound. At 16 bays by 4 and a half, it is the longest of the four brewhouses, a narrow block reaching back from the street into the site.

Four registered structures face the front street: the main house, the wall, the front gate and the Naruko Family Residence Sake Brewhouse No. 4. The house shows the street its full length; the brewhouse shows only its triangular gable and keeps its length out of sight.

Charred Boards and a Heavy Roof Frame

The walls are clad in vertical charred boards carried up to the eaves. On the west side alone, the band under the eaves is finished in white Shikkui plaster, so from the west a crisp white line separates black wall from roof.

The roof is laid in pantiles. The main house and Brewhouses No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 all use round-and-flat hongawara tiles; No. 4 is the odd one out, a difference you can spot by comparing the buildings.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the roof framing robust and imposing. Horizontal beams and angled cantilever beams are set every two bays, the same frame repeated at a steady rhythm down all 16 bays, securing working space along the full length of a long, narrow building.

The brewhouse also matters to the streetscape. The agency's note on the wall says the tiled pent roof running from Brewhouse No. 4 along the main house reads as one with the wall's tiled coping, keeping the front street visually continuous. Like its neighbours, it was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The agency dates it to the Taisho era; Naniwa Shuzo describes its brewhouses as more than two centuries old.

What to Look For

From the front street, face the gable of the Naruko Family Residence Sake Brewhouse No. 4 and note the contrast between the triangle of the roof and the vertical grain of the boards. Then let your eye travel right: the pent-roof line runs on, unbroken, to the main house and the wall.

If you can see the west side, look for the plaster band under the eaves, a straight line of white over black running the whole 16 bays.

If you get inside, count the rhythm of horizontal and cantilever beams, one set every two bays, repeating into the depth of the building.

Seeing the Brewhouse

The gable of Brewhouse No. 4 can be seen from the front street at any time. Cars use the road, so step to the side if you stop.

Whether you get inside depends on which brewhouses Naniwa Shuzo's paid, reservation-only tour visits; published information does not break this down by building, so ask when booking. Ask your guide what you may photograph. Directions and booking details are on the Naruko Family Residence page.