“Shirayuki” Signboard

A signboard is considered the face of a brewery or a sake shop. From the Edo period to the Showa period, it was common for breweries to have a large, quaint wooden signboard outside the building. The signboard of Konishi Brewery is a zelkova board that is said to be over 800 years old, and is brushed by Confucian scholar Rai Sanyo, who is famous for “Nihon Gaishi”. It is said that the “Shirayuki” trademark was named by the second generation of the Konishi family, Sotaku, who was impressed by the nobleness of the icecap on the sacred Mt. Fuji while transporting sake to Edo by land in the early Edo period (around 1635). It is said to be the oldest trademark.

Photographed: mid 1950s

Konishi Brewery