Iimori Sake Brewery Chimney

The Chimney That Still Reads Tama no Ka

Iimori Sake Brewery Chimney (飯盛酒造煙突, Iimori Shuzō Entotsu) is a brick chimney built around 1921 beside the main house of Iimori Sake Brewery at 122 Furueda Ko, Kashima City, Saga Prefecture, and entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 3, 2006. It stands about 9 meters tall on a square base about 1.5 meters to a side.

It rises against the outer wall of the main house's earth-floored work area, just north of the boiler room behind it. On its north face are the characters for Tama no Ka, the sake label produced here before the Iimori family acquired the brewery. Of the five registered Iimori buildings, the Iimori Sake Brewery Chimney is the only one with a date narrowed to a particular year, around 1921.

Why the Iimori Chimney Was Registered

It was registered as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs goes further and treats the Iimori Sake Brewery Chimney as a symbol of Sakagura-dōri, the brewery street of Hizen Hamashuku. It is counted as one structure and classed not as a building but as an "other structure."

A brewery chimney carries off the smoke from the fires that steam rice and heat water, lifting it clear of the rooftops. Standing right by the boiler room, the Iimori chimney is placed where that job required. In a street of low townhouses and storehouses, a brick column 9 meters high is visible from a distance and announces a brewery.

The chimney is fitted with iron reinforcing frames that clamp the slender brickwork from outside. When they were added is not recorded in the published sources.

What to Look For at the Iimori Chimney

The chief sight is the lettering on the north face. Iimori Sake Brewery stands where the road running south from Hizen-Hama Station meets Sakagura-dōri, so anyone walking from the station approaches the north face head on. The Kashima City Tourism Association also notes that the chimney catches the eye on the way from the station.

Tama no Ka was never an Iimori label; the Iimori brand was Kanpai. The earlier brewer's name was never painted out, and the Iimori Sake Brewery Chimney still carries it now that the Iimori family has stopped brewing too.

Closer in, look at the iron frames gripping the chimney and at the brick bond. Set against the wall of the main house, the 1.5-meter square section shows just how stout the column is.

Visiting the Iimori Sake Brewery Chimney

The Iimori Sake Brewery Chimney can be seen from the old Tara road and from the road leading down from Hizen-Hama Station. It is the most visible of the five registered Iimori buildings from the street. As a chimney it has no interior, so viewing is from the outside only.

Because the Tama no Ka lettering is on the north face, photograph it from the station side, facing south. If you want a closer look from inside the lot, ask at the shop first. Directions and opening hours are on the Iimori Sake Brewery page.