The Shop That Faced Hashihama's Main Street
The Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop (旧八木商店本店店舗) is a merchant building of 1918 in Hashihama, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) on October 14, 2021. It is a wooden building of 2 stories with a tiled roof and a floor area of 84 square meters.
Yagi Shoten was a shipping house that worked out of Hashihama harbour, and this was the building it turned toward the street. The upper floor is a low half-storey of the Tsushi-nikai type, the roof an Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable form covered in Sangawara-buki pantiles. A Geya penthouse roof runs along the front and sides, and the gable end shows to the street above the rooms to the south.
The entrance opens on the north half of the east face; to its south stands a projecting lattice screen of closely spaced wooden bars. Inside, a twelve-mat room runs beside the earthen-floored Doma entry, with two further reception rooms to the south, all built from selected timber. The museum that occupies the property today calls this building the entrance wing and records that a clerk's office and a small Chashitsu tea room for a handful of guests once stood on its ground floor.
Why the Building Was Registered
The Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop was registered under the criterion for structures that contribute to the historic character of the national landscape, with register number 38-0156. It was listed in the hundredth round of registrations on October 14, 2021, together with the reception room, residence wing, inner storehouse, detached wing and front wall standing on the same grounds. What earned the listing was the survival of the whole street frontage rather than a single fine room.
The house was built for Yagi Kamesaburō (1863 to 1938), born into a Hashihama merchant family. He made his fortune trading with the Russian Maritime Province and then in salmon and trout fisheries at the mouth of the Amur River, and went on to serve as first president of the Imabari Gas Company (today Shikoku Gas), as head of the Imabari Commercial Bank, and as mayor of the village of Hashihama. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the property as the frontage of a merchant who grew rich from crab factory ships.
A ledger kept in the house, dated the eighth month of 1918, names the master carpenter as Tsugawa Kiichirō, who is said to have studied Western building methods in Russia. The face shown to the street stays entirely Japanese in idiom while the rear wings carry Western roof trusses. That division begins here, at the shop.
What to Look For
Start with the steps. The entrance of the Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop rises on stone treads, and the museum explains this as a defence against storm surge on low ground beside the harbour. A family that lived by the sea also had to build against it, and the evidence sits in those few risers.
Around the doorway the carpenters set horse chestnut, zelkova and high grade cedar side by side. Upstairs the ceiling curves in the funabari form, boards rising to a shallow ridge like an upturned boat hull. In a house built on shipping and fishing, that shape is hard to forget once noticed.
The lattice screen works in one direction. From the street you see very little; from the room behind it you see the whole road. Standing at the front you can test that asymmetry for yourself, and glance west, where the roofline steps down toward the reception room wing.
Visiting
The building is open to visitors as part of the Yagi Shoten Honten Museum. Advance reservation is the rule, and callers without one may be turned away. Admission is 1,000 yen per person. The museum closes on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays, and the telephone line (0898-41-5101) is answered from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on open days. Groups of more than 10 should discuss arrangements in advance.
Eating, drinking and smoking are not allowed indoors or in the garden. Room hire that involves photography is handled by arrangement, so ask about indoor photography when you book.
The nearest station is Hashihama on the JR Yosan Line, about a 15 minute walk to the north. Buses toward Hashihama leave from in front of Imabari Station. Drivers can use the car park immediately north of the museum entrance. The street elevation can be seen from outside at any time.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop, and is a reservation needed?
- Yes. It is open as the Yagi Shoten Honten Museum. Visits are by advance reservation as a rule, and people who arrive without one may be turned away. Bookings are taken by telephone on 0898-41-5101.
- How much is admission to the Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop and when is it closed?
- Admission is 1,000 yen per person. The museum is closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays, and the telephone line is answered from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on days when it is open.
- When was the Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop built and when was it registered?
- It was built in 1918 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) on October 14, 2021, under register number 38-0156.
- How do you reach the Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop from the nearest station?
- Hashihama Station on the JR Yosan Line is about a 15 minute walk south of the property. Buses toward Hashihama also run from in front of Imabari Station, and there is a car park just north of the museum entrance.
- Is photography allowed at the Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop?
- Room hire involving photography is arranged case by case, so confirm indoor photography when you book. The exterior facing the street can be seen and viewed from the public road.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop |
|---|---|
| Location | 406-1 Hashihama Ni-chome, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, and other lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on October 14, 2021 (Reiwa 3) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 stories, tiled roof, floor area 84 square meters |
| Owner | Fujitaka Kosan Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Open as the Yagi Shoten Honten Museum by advance reservation; admission 1,000 yen |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties, Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014107
- Cultural Heritage Online, Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Shop
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/520457
- Former Yagi Shoten Main Store Garden Registered as a National Registered Monument, Place of Scenic Beauty (Imabari City, Division of Cultural Promotion)
- https://www.city.imabari.ehime.jp/bunka/info/017/
Last verified: 2026.09.04