Former Kagamiyama Sake Brewery Showa Storehouse

The Storehouse Where the Mash Was Brewed

The Former Kagamiyama Sake Brewery Showa Storehouse (旧鏡山酒造昭和蔵) is a sake storehouse of 1931 in Shintomicho, Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 7, 2008 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Locally it is called the Showa-gura, and it now houses the sake tasting room of Koedo Kurari.

The Agency records a Dozo-zukuri storehouse of 2 storeys with a tiled roof and a building area of 231 square metres; registration number 11-0115.

Rows of Drip Ledges and Iron Hooks

The Former Kagamiyama Sake Brewery Showa Storehouse stands southeast of the Taisho Storehouse, its ridge running east to west (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is a 2-storey building 25 metres long and 9.1 metres deep, under a gabled roof of interlocking pantiles. The walls are Shikkui lime plaster above a mortar skirting, with 3 rows of Mizukiri drip ledges on the gable ends and 2 on the long sides, and iron hooks set at even intervals across the plaster.

Inside, thick posts rise through both floors down the centre line, one every 3 ken, and the upper floor shows a massive Wagoya roof frame of Japanese-style beams (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Koedo Kurari gives the central cedar posts as 55 centimetres or more across and says that the three of them, one now hidden, hold up the whole building like a balancing toy.

In the brewing years the Showa Storehouse was where the yeast starter (Shubo) and the main mash were prepared (Koedo Kurari). Koji from the Meiji Storehouse was brought here, and the mash then went back to the Meiji Storehouse to be pressed.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency points to the neat rows of drip ledges and hooks on the walls and the powerful roof frame on the upper floor, and registered the building for its contribution to the historic landscape. Koedo Kurari likewise describes it as a storehouse whose heavy roof and white walls give the site its weight.

Built in 1931, the Showa Storehouse is the youngest of the three. According to Kawagoe City's newsletter, it reopened as a sake tasting room on March 10, 2018, after renovation.

What to Look For

Outside, follow the lines of drip ledges, 3 on the gable walls and 2 on the long sides, and the iron hooks set evenly between them (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The hooks were fixtures for hanging scaffolding and ropes when the plaster needed repair.

Inside, look for the thick cedar posts on the centre line. Koedo Kurari says there are three, though one is hidden from view.

Visiting

The Showa Storehouse is Koedo Kurari's sake tasting room. Paid tasting machines pour sake from breweries across Saitama Prefecture, the bottles are on sale, and a corner stocks fermented foods such as soy sauce and miso. It is open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (Koedo Kurari).

You can walk in and see the interior and its central posts during opening hours. No official guidance on photography was found.