Iimori Sake Brewery No. 3 Storehouse

Where Iimori Sake Was Pressed and Bottled

Iimori Sake Brewery No. 3 Storehouse (飯盛酒造三号蔵, Iimori Shuzō Sangōgura) is a late Taisho-era, two-storey earth-walled storehouse behind the main house of Iimori Sake Brewery at 122 Furueda Ko, Kashima City, Saga Prefecture, entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 3, 2006. It has a building area of 151 square meters under a tiled roof.

It stands on the east side of the lot, with the earth-floored work area of the main house to its north and the brick koji room joined to its south face. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the No. 3 Storehouse served as the funaba, the room where fermented mash was pressed to separate the sake, and as the bottling room.

How the Iimori No. 3 Storehouse Is Built

The Iimori Sake Brewery No. 3 Storehouse was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country, on the same day as the main house, the No. 1 and No. 2 Storehouses, the koji room and the chimney.

The core measures 5 ken by 4 ken (a ken is roughly 1.8 meters). The roof is a gable laid with pantiles, but on the west side it is carried down an extra 2 ken, so the two slopes are of unequal length. Inside, the roof rests on a Wagoya, the traditional Japanese frame in which short posts stand on the beams to hold the ridge and purlins.

The building grew over time. The Agency dates the core to the late Taisho era and an extension to the early Showa era, and its description records that an inspection room and a rest room were added on the west side under a lean-to roof. As long as brewing went on, the storehouse was enlarged to suit the work of pressing and bottling.

Kashima City's historic character plan, citing a 1999 survey report, describes the pressing house as a building attached to the main house. The No. 3 Storehouse does stand directly behind the main house's work area, but the plan does not make clear whether its pressing house and the No. 3 Storehouse are the same building.

What to Look For at the Iimori No. 3 Storehouse

The striking feature of the Iimori No. 3 Storehouse is its lopsided roof. The gable runs long and low on the west side only, and beyond it the lean-to of the inspection and rest rooms is attached. Read from the Agency's description, the roof steps down westward in three stages: the core, the extended slope and the lean-to.

Look also at the junction with the brick koji room to the south. An earth-walled storehouse and a brick building, two quite different constructions, stand wall to wall in one line. At Iimori, the room where koji was grown and the storehouse where sake was pressed and bottled were next-door neighbours.

Visiting the Iimori Sake Brewery No. 3 Storehouse

The Iimori Sake Brewery No. 3 Storehouse lies behind the main house and can hardly be seen from the old Tara road. There is no published offer to show its interior. Ask at the shop before stepping onto the premises.

Iimori Sake Brewery trades as a shop for pickles and local sake, open during business hours. Work clothes and sake barrels from the brewing years are displayed inside, a reminder of the days when the No. 3 Storehouse was pressing and bottling Iimori sake. Directions and opening hours are on the Iimori Sake Brewery page.