Koeigiku Sake Brewery Chimney

A red-brick landmark above the old road

The Koeigiku Sake Brewery Chimney (光栄菊酒造煙突, Kōeigiku Shuzō Entotsu) is a brick chimney in Oshima, Mikazuki-cho, Ogi City, Saga Prefecture, built in the early Showa period (1926–1945) and entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 February 2021.

It stands just east of the kettle room at Koeigiku Sake Brewery. A brick plinth 1.7 metres square and 1.6 metres high supports a shaft laid in English bond that reaches a total height of about 11 metres. It is counted as one structure, and of the six registered items at the brewery it is the only one that is not a building.

The land around it is flat and open, with few tall buildings. Ogi City describes the red-brick chimney rising from the old road on the north side as a well-loved local symbol, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the Koeigiku Sake Brewery Chimney a landmark for the district.

How it was built to stand

In English bond, courses showing the long faces of the bricks alternate with courses showing their ends. The bricks lock together through the thickness of the wall, which keeps a tall, slender structure from pulling apart.

The shaft tapers as it rises, lightening the top, lowering the centre of gravity and reducing the surface exposed to wind. At the flue opening the brickwork steps out in four courses of moulding to form a projecting cap, and all four corners are braced with iron frames.

The chimney served the great cauldron in the adjacent kettle room, which, according to the Agency's description, is sunk into the earthen floor and connected to the flue outside. The Washing Room and Kettle Room is registered separately as number 41-115; the Koeigiku Sake Brewery Chimney is number 41-119, listed under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation.

Brewery chimneys were once a common sight across Japan, but many came down as fuel and equipment changed. This one survived the gap between the brewery's closure in 2006 and the return of brewing in 2019, and registration has fixed it as part of the local landscape.

What to look for: the moulded cap and iron corners

Three things repay a careful look. At the top, the four stepped courses of moulding give the flue a crisp outline. At the corners, vertical iron frames hold the arrises of the brickwork. And in profile, the gradual narrowing from plinth to cap is easiest to read from the side.

The Koeigiku Sake Brewery Chimney rises behind the main house when seen from the old road to the north. Late in the day the low western sun deepens the red of the brick against the tiled roofs behind.

Visiting

The Koeigiku Sake Brewery Chimney stands inside the brewery grounds and cannot be approached. Koeigiku Sake Brewery is a working brewery, and as of 25 September 2026 no public visits were advertised.

The best view is from the old road on the north side, looking up from the street; there is no need to enter the site. The brewery has published no photography policy, so photograph from the road without blocking traffic.