A guest wing on land bought later
Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex (小柳酒造離れ, Koyanagi Shuzō Hanare) is a single-storey building of about 1921 with an Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable roof at 904-1 Ogicho, Ogi City, Saga Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 14 February 2002.
It stands north of the main house, its south-west corner joined to the north-east corner of the projecting wing there. The ridge runs east to west, the roof is Sangawara-buki pantile, the frame is timber and single-storey, and the footprint is 130 square metres. Inside there are two rooms, one of 4.5 mats and one of 6 mats with a Tokonoma alcove, with a veranda corridor along both the north and south faces.
The land number gives the building away. The main house is at 903-1; Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex is at 904-1. It sits outside the original plot.
Two rooms and a corridor, nothing else
There are only two rooms, of 4.5 and 6 mats. The alcove is in the larger one, which makes it the seat of honour. Verandas run along the north and south of both, holding a band of space between garden and interior. Almost nothing in the plan serves daily living, and the arrangement reads as a place built to receive people rather than to house them.
The roof is hip-and-gable: a gable above, hipped slopes below, a form conventionally ranked above the plain gable. Look across the rest of the compound and the production buildings carry gabled or hipped roofs almost without exception. Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex is the only one with an irimoya. Function shows itself in the roofline.
The footprint is 130 square metres. Reaching that figure with two rooms and a corridor meant being generous with both room size and corridor width, and the gap between the number and the room count is itself a statement about what the building was for.
Evidence that the site was expanding
The listing criterion is contribution to the historic landscape of the nation, and the registration number is 41-0028, second after the main house. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex occupies land bought to extend the property, and reads it as evidence of the firm growing.
Construction dates to about 1921. Five years later, in 1926, work began west of the watercourse on the Showa storehouses, the kettle room and the rest of the improvement scheme. So the reception room on the newly bought land came first, and the wholesale rebuilding of the plant followed. Expansion showed up on the hospitality side before it showed up in production.
The point of interest is the junction. The south-west corner of the annex meets the north-east corner of the main house wing, so the two roofs run on out of step with one another. Here a late Edo building and one from the end of the Taisho era, some 130 years apart, are physically joined, and the difference in ridge height and eaves projection marks the seam.
Visiting
Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex is closed. The interior cannot be entered, and because it lies at the back of a working business, an ordinary visit does not bring you near enough to see the whole building.
What can be traced is the junction with the main house. From the north side of the shop, part of the roof beyond the projecting wing can be followed with the eye; finding the gable face of the hip-and-gable roof fixes its position.
No photography policy has been published. Ask at the shop counter before taking pictures on the premises. Directions, parking and the opening terms for the shop and the Ogi Distillery are set out on the Koyanagi Sake Brewery page. The details here were checked on 14 September 2026.
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Q&A
- Can Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex be visited inside?
- No. The building is closed and stands at the back of a working business. From the north side of the shop only part of its roof can be seen.
- When was Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex built?
- Around 1921. Among the listed structures on the site it is the second oldest, after the late Edo main house.
- What is the structure of Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex?
- Single-storey timber with a pantile roof and a footprint of 130 square metres. The ridge runs east to west under a hip-and-gable roof, and the interior holds a 4.5-mat room and a 6-mat room with an alcove, with verandas on the north and south.
- Why is the address of Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex different from the main house?
- Because it stands outside the original plot. The main house is at 903-1 Ogicho and the annex at 904-1, on land the family bought to extend the site.
- What is the designation of Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex and when was it listed?
- It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure). The listing took effect on 14 February 2002 and was gazetted on 12 March of that year, in the thirty-second round. Its registration number is 41-0028.
Basic Information
| Name | Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex |
|---|---|
| Location | 904-1 Ogicho, Ogi City, Saga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 14 February 2002 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 1 timber storey, pantile roof, footprint 130 square metres; hip-and-gable roof, rooms of 4.5 and 6 mats |
| Owner | Unknown (no owner recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Closed. No public access to interior or immediate exterior |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Koyanagi Sake Brewery Detached Annex (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00002713
- Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Ogi City, Ogi City Board of Education
- https://www.city.ogi.lg.jp/main/9887.html
Last verified: 2026.09.13
