Ogawa Sake Brewery

Seven Registered Buildings in Kawaramachi, Kurayoshi

Ogawa Sake Brewery (小川酒造, Ogawa Shuzō) is the former brewing estate of the Ogawa family in Kawaramachi, Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture, where seven buildings dating from the Meiji era to the early Showa era were entered together on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on October 9, 1998. Tottori Prefecture designated the same estate a Prefectural Protected Cultural Property on April 7, 2015 under the name Ogawa Family Residence (小川家住宅, Ogawa-ke Jūtaku), so prefectural sources use that name instead.

According to a family history published by the Ogawa Memorial Foundation, the household traded under the name Nakaeya. Tomisaburo, the third head (1804 to 1891), built the family's fortune on sake and cotton. The fourth head, Teishiro (1845 to 1915), sold a sake called Kumegawa and opened a silk-reeling mill in 1893. Teiichi, the sixth head (1882 to 1943), founded the Ogawa partnership company in 1910 and renamed the sake Utsubuki Masamune in 1915. He also moved into soy sauce, and served in the prefectural assembly and the House of Peers.

No sake is brewed at Ogawa Sake Brewery today. Since July 17, 2026, part of the estate has housed the front desk and guest rooms of Kazeno Kurayoshi, a small hotel spread across two historic houses.

The Seven Buildings of Ogawa Sake Brewery

The seven buildings of Ogawa Sake Brewery were registered in the 14th round of registrations under consecutive numbers 31-0029 to 31-0035. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database gives the following dates, structures and building areas.

• Main House: early Taisho era. Timber, 2 storeys, 360 square meters
• Bottling Plant: Meiji era. Earthen-walled storehouse construction, 2 storeys, 218 square meters
• Former Brewing Storehouse: Taisho era. Earthen-walled, 2 storeys, 237 square meters
• Pressing House: Meiji era. Earthen-walled, 2 storeys, 77 square meters
• Nikaigura (two-storey storehouse): early Showa era. Earthen-walled, 2 storeys, 52 square meters
• Sankaigura (three-storey storehouse): early Showa era. Earthen-walled, 3 storeys, 62 square meters
• Tool Storehouse: early Showa era. Earthen-walled, 2 storeys, 75 square meters

All seven have tiled roofs. The Main House and the Bottling Plant were registered as buildings that set a model for their type; the other five as buildings that contribute to the historic landscape. What gives the site its weight is the completeness of the set: behind a house that doubled as shop and home, the rooms for each stage of the work still stand, from mixing and pressing the sake to bottling it and storing the tools.

Two points in the records do not line up. The prefectural database counts the Ogawa Family Residence as 10 items, while Kurayoshi City's list of prefectural properties calls it six buildings, and neither says which structures are included. Kurayoshi City's list of nationally registered properties (current as of June 24, 2021) does not include the Ogawa Sake Brewery buildings, although the Agency's database still carries the registration. This page follows the Agency's database.

The Layout of Ogawa Sake Brewery and the Hachiya River

Tottori Prefecture's description places Kawaramachi on the right bank of the Ogamo River, a tributary of the Tenjin, at the western end of the old town that stretches east to west below Mount Utsubuki. The Utsubuki-Tamagawa preservation district for groups of traditional buildings lies at the eastern end. The prefecture treats the Ogawa estate as the anchor of the older buildings around the Hachiya River and the main street.

Pieced together from the Agency's notes, the plan of Ogawa Sake Brewery runs from street to river. The Main House fronts Kawaramachi Street, with an earth-floored passage running through it from south to north. Beyond that passage stands the Bottling Plant, and the Nikaigura faces it. The Sankaigura sits north of the Nikaigura, parallel to it, between it and the Main House. The Tool Storehouse occupies roughly the middle of the plot. At the very back, on the Hachiya River, the Former Brewing Storehouse and the Pressing House stand end to end.

The river served Ogawa Sake Brewery in two ways. The Former Brewing Storehouse has its doorway on the water side, which the Agency links to river transport, and beside the Pressing House a channel and brick walling survive from a waterwheel. The same river was also a threat: the Agency reads the raised floors of the Sankaigura and the Tool Storehouse as precautions against flooding.

The family's gardens are divided in three as well. A 2010 report by the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education lists a front garden facing Kawaramachi Street, an inner garden between the Main House and the storehouses, and Kansuien, a separate plot along the Hachiya River whose design takes in a tall red-brick chimney. The front and inner gardens are not open to the public.

Visiting Ogawa Sake Brewery

Tottori Prefecture lists Ogawa Sake Brewery (as the Ogawa Family Residence) as closed to the public. There is no admission to the interiors, and visitors who are not staying can see the buildings only from Kawaramachi Street.

Kazeno Kurayoshi, which opened on July 17, 2026, has 11 guest rooms split between the Ogawa house and the former Takata house about 3 minutes' walk away, with its front desk in the Ogawa Main House. On the Ogawa side, the Main House, a Western-style wing, a later reception wing and the Seiwaken tea room hold 6 rooms and the front desk. The ground inside the gate is managed by the hotel, so ask at the front desk before entering or taking photographs there.

Of the family gardens, only Kansuien, at 3030-12 Kawaramachi, is open, by reservation through the Ogawa Memorial Foundation. The foundation admits visitors on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays in 5 sessions a day, and bookings must be made at least 2 weeks ahead.

To reach Ogawa Sake Brewery, take the Nihon Kotsu Hirose Line bus from JR Kurayoshi Station to the Kawaramachi stop, then walk about 5 minutes (Tottori Prefecture's directions). By car it is about 15 minutes from the station, but the street in front is one-way from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with no entry from the east, so follow the hotel's advice and come round from the Ogamobashi-higashi junction on the west side.