Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse: A Storehouse Still Brewing Soy Sauce Since 1862
The Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse (ジョーキュウ醤油仕込蔵, Jōkyū Shōyu Shikomigura) is a soy sauce brewing storehouse built in 1862 in Daimyo 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 26, 2015. Its registration number is 40-0123.
It stands in the middle of the Jokyu site, just east of the Rice Storehouse, with its ridge running north to south. The building is a single-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse, meaning thick earthen walls finished in plaster, with a building area of 123 square meters, the largest footprint of the six registered structures. It went up only seven years after the business was founded in 1855, and the company states plainly that it is still in use.
Inside the Frame of the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse
The roof is a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri form laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse as unusually tall for a single-storey building. The extra height appears to be sized to the large brewing casks inside, and over the southern half a temporary floor is laid so that workers can tend the casks from above; the company calls it a raised floor.
The roof is carried on a Wagoya frame of horizontal beams and short posts, with a ceiling fitted beneath it. The company singles out the heavy round-log beams left exposed below the ceiling as a defining feature of a brewing store.
The casks stand on the ground, and a working floor is run across at the height of their rims. Boarding over only half of the interior and leaving the rest open for the casks gives a section that follows directly from the job of brewing.
Why the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse Was Registered
The Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse was registered as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency's assessment is that it shows the features of a brewing storehouse clearly and serves as the emblem of the brewery.
The company history records that in the Fukuoka air raid of 1945 fire surrounded the site and the buildings holding the brewing tanks and casks burned down. Because this Edo-period storehouse survived, Jokyu still brews in the same building on the site where the business began.
Crossroad Fukuoka, the prefecture's official tourism site, says the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse uses traditional wooden casks to make saishikomi shoyu, or double-brewed soy sauce. In this method the mash is made up with unpasteurized raw soy sauce in place of brine and left to mature for a long time, which the site says gives a deeper, fuller and mellower flavor.
Seeing the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse
This is a working brewing store, and there is no notice of the interior being open to the public. Expect not to see the rows of casks inside.
Because it stands in the middle of the site, you can see it only as far as the retail shop staff show you. From outside, look at how high the white walls rise for a single-storey building and at the broad triangle of the gable end. Compare its height with the two-storey Rice Storehouse just to the west.
Published sources say nothing about photography, so ask in the shop first. Directions and the visiting conditions shared by all six structures are gathered on the Jokyu Soy Sauce page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Fukuoka
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse
- [ Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine & Hakata Food Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse built?
- It was built in 1862, seven years after Jokyu Soy Sauce was founded in 1855.
- Is the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse still used for making soy sauce?
- Yes. The company history says it is still in use, and Fukuoka Prefecture's official tourism site says double-brewed soy sauce is made here in wooden casks.
- Can visitors go inside the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse?
- It is a working brewing store, and there is no notice of the interior being open to the public. Ask at the retail shop how much of the site you may see and whether photographs are allowed.
- When was the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse registered as a cultural property?
- It was entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 26, 2015, under registration number 40-0123.
- What is distinctive about the structure of the Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse?
- It is a large single-storey earthen-walled storehouse with a gabled pantile roof and a building area of 123 square meters. Its walls rise unusually high, a raised working floor spans the southern half above the casks, and a ceiling is fitted under the wagoya roof frame.
Basic Information
| Name | Jokyu Soy Sauce Brewing Storehouse (ジョーキュウ醤油仕込蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-330-3 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), registration no. 40-0123 |
| Year Designated | Registered March 26, 2015 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Earthen-walled storehouse construction, single storey, tiled roof, building area 123 square meters |
| Owner | JOKYU Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | No announced public opening of the interior (ask at the retail shop about viewing on site) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Jokyu Shoyu Shikomigura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010531
- Cultural Heritage Online: Jokyu Shoyu Shikomigura
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/235751
- JOKYU: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.jokyu.co.jp/history/property/index.html
- JOKYU: Company History
- https://www.jokyu.co.jp/history/index.html
- Crossroad Fukuoka (Fukuoka Prefecture official tourism site): Jokyu
- https://www.crossroadfukuoka.jp/spot/10803
Last verified: 2026.09.30
