Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery Sake Storehouse

About the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery Sake Storehouse

The Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery Sake Storehouse (旧宮崎酒造酒蔵, Kyū Miyazaki Shuzō Sakagura) is a mid-Meiji period, 2-storey storehouse of earthen-walled construction in Sewamachi, Namerikawa City, Toyama Prefecture, and was entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on April 28, 2010. With a building area of 277 m², it is the largest of the four surviving buildings of the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery.

The storehouse stands at the northern tip of a long, narrow plot, as far from the old Hokuriku Kaidō highway as the property goes. It is L-shaped in plan. After the Miyazaki family bought the premises in 1875 and took up brewing, this was where the sake was made and stored. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records alterations made around 1965.

A Black-and-White Kura with a Swelling Roof

The Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery Sake Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency's description stresses its weighty presence and treats it as one of the buildings that, together with the koji and clothing storehouses, give the site its character.

The gabled roof of pan tiles has a slight upward swell, called mukuri, between ridge and eaves, which softens a large, heavy building. The walls are finished in white lime plaster, except for the lower front wall, done in black plaster, and the upper storey of the south gable end, clad in charred cedar boards known as Yakisugi.

A deep eave projects over the south gable to shelter the Tomae, the entrance to the storehouse. Above it rises the dark board wall of the upper floor.

What to Look For

The face to stand in front of is the south gable of the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery Sake Storehouse. Reading upward, the black plaster base gives way to white plaster, then to the charred cedar of the upper storey, with the gently swelling roof over the top. Those three bands of colour stacked one above another make it the most photogenic side of the building.

The L-shaped plan is the other point to notice. At 277 m², the sake storehouse covers about seven times the area of the koji storehouse next to it (40 m²). Events such as the Sakagura Art exhibition have used the buildings of the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery as their venue.

The small koji storehouse stands beside the Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery Sake Storehouse with its front in line. Its roof is a continuation of the sake storehouse roof carried down over it, and from outside you can see that the two worked as a single brewing unit.

Visiting the Sake Storehouse

The Former Miyazaki Sake Brewery Sake Storehouse lies behind the shop and main house at the far end of the plot, so it is hard to see from the old highway. The property is privately owned and not open on a regular basis, and the storehouse can be seen up close only on days when the grounds are opened for events such as the Namerikawa Lantern Festival or Sakagura Art (checked October 2026).

If you do get onto the site, go round to the south gable and look at the entrance and the charred cedar wall head-on. Photography rules are set by the organisers of each event, so check on the day.