Yukimuro 雪室

In my previous article, I wrote about how snow makes our lives difficult but also brings the fruits of nature. I recently learned about another example of this when I visited the “yukomuro” of Hakkaisan brewery in Uonuma no Sato.

Yukimuro are also called “sechuu chozoko”, a natural refrigerator kept cool by stored snow. Yukimuro were very valuable facilities before modern refrigeration. The oldest yukimuro found in Japan was made about 1,300 years ago. In the olden days, people made small mountains of snow and covered them with straw mats to prevent them from melting.

Today’s yukimuro are huge storage rooms filled with snow using loaders. In Hakkaisan’s yukimuro, about 1,000 tons of snow is brought into the facility every February and it can maintain a consistent temperature for one year. Their “Yukimuro” keeps the air temperature at about 4 degrees celsius, creating their sake’s trademark rich, smooth taste.

The yukimuro’s cool air can be carried to other rooms throughout the building via ducts, making it a natural air conditionor. I hope these techniques can be further developed and used for making our lives more Eco-friendly. Snow is truly a natural energy resource!

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