Yano Sake Brewery Former Rice Mill

A 1904 Rice Mill, Now Tatsumi no Kura

The Yano Sake Brewery Former Rice Mill (矢野酒造旧精米所, Yano Shuzō Kyū-seimaisho) is a single-storey wooden rice-polishing building of 1904 at Yano Sake Brewery in Takatsuhara, Kashima City, Saga Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 3, 2006. Renamed Tatsumi no Kura, it now serves as a gallery and event space.

It stands on the old Tara branch of the Nagasaki Kaidō, just south of the main house, with its ridge running east to west and a building area of 127 square meters. Built in the same year as the house, it completes the brewery's face on the old road.

A Long Single-Storey Hall with a Raised Vent

The Yano Sake Brewery Former Rice Mill measures 9 Ken by 3 ken, about 16.4 by 5.5 meters if one ken is 1.82 meters. Its gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) is laid with pantiles, and toward the west end a small raised roof, a Koshi-yane, sits astride the ridge.

A koshi-yane lets air and light in through the gap between the two roofs. In a rice mill it would most likely have drawn off the heat and bran dust thrown up by polishing.

Because the ridge runs east to west, the building shows its gable to the street. A tiled canopy runs across the front, the front gable wall is clad in overlapping horizontal boards (Shitami-itabari), and the other walls are white lime plaster. The prefectural heritage entry describes the mill as entered on its long side; this article follows the Agency for Cultural Affairs, which places the gable wall at the front.

An Open Roof Frame Inside

Inside there is no ceiling. The roof structure is left exposed, so visitors can look straight up into the timber frame that has covered the space since it was a mill.

Of the seven listed buildings, the Yano Sake Brewery Former Rice Mill is the only one whose interior visitors can actually walk through, and its beams and posts give a fair idea of the roof frames hidden inside the storehouses further back.

From Mill to Gallery

The brewery says it converted the 1904 warehouse, which had been its rice mill, into Tatsumi no Kura. Registration as a national cultural property followed in 2006 and recognition as Saga Prefectural Heritage later. Renovation work was completed in 2016, and the brewery notes that the building has since come through an earthquake.

According to the prefectural entry, the street end of the Yano Sake Brewery Former Rice Mill is used as a gallery for paintings, ceramics and photographs and for concerts. It also hosts craft fairs run with the local chamber of commerce and events such as the tourism association's hands-on sake-making day.

It is registration number 41-0055, listed for contributing to the historic landscape of the nation.

Visiting Tatsumi no Kura

The Yano Sake Brewery Former Rice Mill is the one building of the seven that the brewery offers to visitors. Seasonal sake tastings, a few small concerts a year and exhibitions of painting, pottery and photography have been held here. Tastings are by reservation and large groups cannot be accommodated, and the brewery's page still says tastings and concerts are suspended as an infection-control measure, so phone ahead to check what is currently on.

The exterior can be seen from the old road. The raised roof vent sits toward the west end, so it is easier to spot from a little way down the street. Ask about photography before you go in.