Sugita Sake Brewery

What Is the Sugita Sake Brewery?

The Sugita Sake Brewery (杉田酒造, Sugita Shuzō) is a sake brewery founded in 1873 in Kamiizumi, Oyama City, Tochigi Prefecture, whose four storehouses, dating from the late Edo period to about 1947, were listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2013.

The brewery stands in the Honzawa part of Kamiizumi, about 7 km west of Oyama Station, with the Uzuma River running along the southeast side of the property. The family points out that the place name itself, written with the characters for "upper" and "spring," hints at the groundwater that the area is known for.

According to the brewery, its founder Sugita Fusakichi came from the Chūetsu district of Niigata Prefecture and started brewing here in April 1873. Its flagship label is Yūtō Masamune (雄東正宗). The Sugita Sake Brewery is still a working brewery, and all four registered buildings stand on the production site.

How the Sugita Sake Brewery Acquired Its Storehouses

Two of the four storehouses were not built for Sugita at all. Tochigi Prefecture's notes say that both the Storage Storehouse and the Brewing Storehouse came from the Tanami brewery in Minamikobayashi, another district of Oyama. Both are thought to date from the late Edo period (1830 to 1868).

The Storage Storehouse moved first. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the move to around 1873, and the prefecture adds that the building was shifted about 500 m by Hikiya, the technique of dragging a structure along intact rather than taking it apart. That is the same year the family gives for the founding of the Sugita Sake Brewery. The Brewing Storehouse followed in the mid-Meiji period, around 1883 to 1897.

The first building raised new on the site was the Taishogura, put up around 1914 according to the prefecture's estimate. The youngest, the Oya Stone Storehouse, dates to about 1947 in the national database, or 1946 to 1947 in the prefecture's account. It was built with a muro, an insulated chamber, for making shochu from sweet potatoes, a crop grown across Tochigi as a substitute for rice during the food shortages after the Second World War. Walking past the four buildings, you can read the brewery's history in sequence: Edo storehouses moved in to start the business, a Taishō addition, and a postwar stone building.

Layout of the Sugita Sake Brewery Storehouses

The four registered buildings of the Sugita Sake Brewery cluster along the west and north of the property. The national database places the Brewing Storehouse on the west side and the Taishogura on the western part of the north edge, with its ridge running east to west. The Storage Storehouse stands north of the center of the site, and the Oya Stone Storehouse sits beyond it to the north.

The buildings join in pairs. The north side of the Brewing Storehouse roof meets the Taishogura, and a passage links their upper floors; the prefecture notes that together their outer walls form the longest continuous wall on the site. In the second pair, the Oya Stone Storehouse roof abuts the north side of the Storage Storehouse, and a single hinged wooden door leads from one to the other.

The three earthen-walled storehouses have lime-plastered walls with a protective skirt of boards or sheet metal and roofs of pantiles. The Oya Stone Storehouse breaks the pattern: its lower walls are cut blocks of Ōya stone, the upper walls are timber, and the roof is sheet metal.

The Four Registered Buildings of the Sugita Sake Brewery

All four buildings were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 29, 2013, under consecutive numbers 09-0202 to 09-0205. Each was listed for contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

• Sugita Sake Brewery Storage Storehouse: late Edo period (1830 to 1868), moved around 1873; two-story earthen storehouse, tiled roof, building area 197 m²
• Sugita Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse: late Edo period (1830 to 1868), moved around 1883 to 1897; two-story earthen storehouse, tiled roof, building area 167 m²
• Sugita Sake Brewery Taishogura: around 1914; two-story earthen storehouse, tiled roof, building area 117 m²
• Sugita Sake Brewery Oya Stone Storehouse: around 1947; single-story stone and timber building, sheet-metal roof, building area 65 m²

The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out the Storage Storehouse as the oldest building on the site and a record of Sugita's history as a sake maker. What makes the set worth seeing is the mix: relocated Edo storehouses, a purpose-built Taishō one, and a postwar stone building, all still part of one working brewery.

Visiting the Sugita Sake Brewery

The Sugita Sake Brewery is a private, working brewery rather than a museum, and it has no regular opening to the public. Tochigi Prefecture lists access as available on request through the owner. According to the brewery, tours are by reservation only and free of charge, and there is no tasting at the shop. Tours are led by Mr. Sugita, the owner, who is also a Nanbu-school master brewer (toji), and he is often away, so the brewery asks visitors to get in touch well in advance. Ask about photography when you book.

Tochigi Tabi Net gives business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with closures from January 1 to 3 and possible closures on Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays. The brewery's own pages give the closing time as both 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., so it is best to call the Sugita Sake Brewery (0285-38-0005) before setting out.

By car, the brewery is about 15 minutes from Oyama Station and about 20 minutes from the Sano-Fujioka interchange on the Tōhoku Expressway. The brewery says visitors should park on the open lot to the east of the building, as the road in front is a school route. By public transport, take Oyama City's O-Bus community bus on the Michinoeki Line from the west exit of JR Oyama Station to the Minamikobayashi stop, then walk about 5 minutes. The city timetable shows a ride of roughly 30 minutes and an adult fare of 300 yen. Buses are infrequent, so check the return times before you go.