Noto Town, Matsunami Sake Brewery Ladder

When the Noto earthquake occurred on New Year’s Day 2024, a seismic intensity of 6+ was observed in Matsunami, Noto Town, at the eastern end of the Noto Peninsula, causing devastating damage to Matsunami Sake Brewery.

There are nearly 30 groups of brewers across the country, and among them, the Nanbu brewers of Iwate Prefecture, the Echigo brewers of Niigata Prefecture, the Tajima brewers of Hyogo Prefecture, and the Noto brewers of Ishikawa Prefecture are said to be the “four great brewers of Japan.”

Matsunami Sake Brewery is a historic sake brewery in Noto Town, the birthplace of Noto Toji, which has been in business since 1868. Even now, more than 150 years after its founding, the brewery continues to brew sake by hand in the harsh Noto winters using traditional tools.

This step ladder is used to access the various steps in the sake brewing process in the green enamel tanks where sake is made.

The brewers must have climbed this ladder and peered into the tanks while performing various detailed tasks.

One year and three months after the earthquake, when we announced that we had installed ladders in this showroom, Kaneshisa Seiko, the proprietress of Matsunami Sake Brewery, commented, “I hope you will continue to use the ladders.” Of course, we vow to ourselves that we will continue to use them in the future.

When collecting

The Matsunami Sake Brewery family is currently living in temporary housing. The building remains as it was at the time of the earthquake, and normally no one enters the area, but on this day they set up a tent in a safe spot outside the building to sell their new sake.

The front side of Matsunami Sake Brewery, facing the road, is leaning and the eaves are still moving in a direction that would cause the building to jut out toward the road, so it is unclear when it will collapse.

The inside of the sake brewery is like building blocks, barely standing, as if even one block would move and the whole thing would collapse.

The rear of the Matsunami Sake Brewery building is almost completely destroyed, with its complexly undulating tiled roof collapsing into the flowing Matsunami River, forming a curve like the back of a reclining dragon, and you can almost hear its breathing.

Furthermore, while everything else has fallen apart, only the chimney used to steam sake rice remains vertical, pointing straight up into the sky. This majestic sight seems to express the pride of this historic sake brewery, and it is impossible not to be moved by it.

Things that are lost can sometimes speak eloquently to people. I’m sure there are many people who have experienced the deep feeling of “irreplaceability” that is barely felt when things are there every day, as if they were a matter of course.

The sale of this new sake became possible thanks to rescue teams who were able to rescue the sake and sake rice stored in the green enamel tanks. The sake is imbued with the souls of many people, including Kaneshichi Seiko, who continued to move forward despite the shock of the earthquake.

In order to pass on somewhere the memories of time told by the dilapidated sake breweries that will eventually be cleared away, we would like to ask the breweries to donate a small portion of their materials, and we will think about how to use them while remembering how they were used in the past.

I put on a helmet and stood under the building, which looked like it was about to collapse, for a while, imagining what sake brewing has been like for 150 years.