A Rooster in Plaster on the Rice Store
Look up at the east front of the old rice storehouse (旧米蔵, kyu-komegura) at Shimomori Brewery and you will find a bird. High on the gable, worked in raised plaster, sits a rooster on a drum. This is a piece of kote-zaiku (鏝細工), the trowel-relief craft in which a plasterer models figures directly in wet lime, and it turns a plain storage building into the most quietly expressive facade in the compound.
The storehouse itself is a single-storey dozo (土蔵造), the thick-walled fireproof type built for keeping valuables, here the rice that is a brewery's raw material. Raised in the Meiji period, between 1868 and 1911, it stands southwest of the main house on an east-west ridge and measures 9.2 by 5.1 metres, roughly 47 square metres in area. A pantiled gable roof covers it, with an eave over the east front and a tiled drip course at the centre of the north wall, each sheltering a doorway. The lower walls are finished in mortar, the upper in white lime plaster.
Reading the Rooster
The motif has a name and a meaning. It is the kanko-dori (諫鼓鶏), the rooster of the remonstrance drum, drawn from an old Chinese idea of good government. A wise ruler was said to place a drum at his gate so that any subject with a grievance could beat it and be heard. In a peaceful, well-ordered reign the drum went unstruck for so long that a rooster came to roost on it. To model that image on a building is to wish for prosperity and settled times, a fitting sentiment over a store of grain.
For a modern visitor the relief is also a clue to craft. Registration in 2008 recognised the storehouse for its part in the historic landscape, and details like this plaster bird are exactly what give a working brewery its distinctive character rather than a merely functional one.
What to Notice on a Visit
Start with the east front, where the plaster rooster repays a slow look; the modelling of the comb and tail rewards attention. Then step back and see how the rice storehouse sits in line with the rice mill immediately to its west, the two forming a continuous, composed frontage along the road.
The building belongs to a working brewery, so keep to the public road and view the exterior only. Under the reddish Sekishu pantiles (石州赤瓦) shared by the whole group, the white-plastered rice store holds one of the small surprises that make the compound worth slowing down for.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Shimane
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Shimomori Sake Brewery Former Rice Storehouse
- [ Izumo Taisha Shrine & Adachi Museum Gardens ]
Q&A
- What is the bird on the gable?
- It is a kanko-dori, a rooster perched on a remonstrance drum. The motif is an old symbol of peaceful, well-ordered rule, modelled here in trowelled plaster relief.
- What was stored here?
- Rice, the raw material of sake. The thick-walled dozo construction protected the grain from fire and damp.
- How old is the rice storehouse?
- It dates to the Meiji period, between 1868 and 1911. The register gives the era rather than a precise year.
- Can I see the plaster relief up close?
- It is on the exterior east gable and visible from the road. As the brewery is a private business, please view it from outside.
Basic Information
| Name | Shimomori Brewery Former Rice Storehouse (下森酒造場旧米蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 992 Tateyama-no-Fumoto, Sabumi, Tsuwano, Kanoashi District, Shimane |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Registered | 8 July 2008 (gazette notice 23 July 2008) |
| Registration No. | 32-0079 |
| Period | Meiji (1868-1911) |
| Structure | Mud-walled dozo, single storey, tiled roof; floor area 47 m²; 9.2 by 5.1 m |
| Criterion | Contributing to the historic landscape |
| Access | Working brewery; exterior viewing from the public road |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (ACA) — Shimomori Brewery Former Rice Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007314
- Tsuwano Cultural Portal — Registered Cultural Properties
- https://tsuwano-bunka.net/cultural-property/
- Sakenomy — Shimomori Brewery (Gomei Kaisha Shimomori Shuzojo)
- https://www.sakenomy.jp/brewery/K01N032033/
Last verified: 2026.07.06