Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery

About the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery

The Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery (旧宮崎酒造, Kyū Miyazaki Shuzō) is a sake brewer's premises from the late Edo and Meiji periods on the old Hokuriku Kaidō highway in Sewamachi, Namerikawa City, Toyama Prefecture, and its four buildings, the shop and main house, the sake storehouse, the koji storehouse and the clothing storehouse, were entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on April 28, 2010. Locals pronounce the city name Namerikawa and the district Sewamachi, readings that are easy to get wrong from the characters alone.

The property did not start out as the Miyazaki family's. It belonged to a merchant house called Koizumiya, which, according to the Namerikawa tourism association, sold patent medicines, brewed sake and held posts such as town elder. From the Kōka era (1844 to 1847) onward, Koizumiya took turns with the nearby temple Yōshōji in serving as the Honjin, the official inn where the lords of the Kaga domain stayed on their journeys to and from Edo. A fire in 1866 destroyed the house, and the main house that stands today went up straight afterwards.

In 1875 the Miyazaki family, who had moved from Takatsuki, bought the land and buildings from Koizumiya and began brewing sake here. Namerikawa City describes the purchase more broadly as taking place in the early Meiji period.

Saved from Demolition

Once brewing had stopped, the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery was slated for demolition. In 2007 the head of the local construction firm asked to pull it down decided the house and storehouses were too good to lose, bought them himself and set about repairs. That is how local press and people involved in the town's conservation describe it.

The aim was to strip away postwar alterations and bring the street front back to its Meiji appearance. The Toyama Location Office lists the evidence used: marks left in the fabric, a photograph taken in 1909, surviving fittings such as the big front doors, recollections of the Miyazaki family head, and design drawings in a collection known as the Iwaki family papers. The work ran from 2008 to 2009.

The year after the facade was restored, all four buildings were registered together on the same day, under consecutive numbers 16-0086 to 16-0089. Day-to-day use is led by a non-profit, the Namerikawa-juku Townscape Preservation and Utilization Society (滑川宿まちなみ保存と活用の会), which owners and residents set up in 2010 and incorporated in 2013.

The Four Buildings and How They Are Laid Out

The Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery occupies a long, narrow plot running north from the highway. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database gives the following dates and construction for the four buildings.

• Shop and main house: late Edo period. Timber, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 376 m². Registered as a model of its type
• Sake storehouse: mid-Meiji period. Earthen-walled storehouse construction, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 277 m². Registered for its contribution to the historic landscape
• Koji storehouse: mid-Meiji period. Earthen-walled, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 40 m². Same criterion as the sake storehouse
• Clothing storehouse: Meiji period. Earthen-walled, 3 storeys, tiled roof, building area 49 m². Same criterion as the sake storehouse

The shop and main house fronts the highway on the south, with a Toriniwa, an earth-floored passage, running back along its west side. The largest building, the sake storehouse, closes the north end of the plot, and the small koji storehouse stands beside it with its front in line. The clothing storehouse sits across a courtyard to the north of the house and east of the sake storehouse. Walk in from the street and you move from shop to living quarters to the brewing buildings at the back.

Only the shop and main house was registered under a different criterion from the rest; the three storehouses were listed for what they add to the streetscape. Each building has its own page covering its construction and what to look for.

Visiting the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery

The Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery is privately owned and has no regular opening days or hours. The front of the shop and main house can be seen from the old highway at any time, but the grounds and storehouses are generally open only when an event is on. Events held here have included a display of hina dolls from late February into early March, the Namerikawa Lantern Festival in August and the Sakagura Art exhibition in October (checked October 2026).

The brewery is the main venue of the lantern festival. In 2026 the main festival days were August 8 and 9, with admission at 1,000 yen and free entry for high school students and younger. Two booking-only photography days came first, and the organisers asked visitors posting pictures online to edit out other guests. No official guidance on photography at other times could be found.

The nearest station is Naka-Namerikawa on the Toyama Chihō Railway main line, about 5 minutes away on foot. From Namerikawa Station on the Ainokaze Toyama Railway it is around a 20-minute walk. There is no visitor parking at the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery; the tourism association suggests the free town-centre parking provided for people exploring on foot. The building has also served as a film location, including for the film Daikome Sōdō (The Great Rice Riot).