The Black-Plastered House at the Top of the Slope
Stone retaining walls hold the Ishii family's ground against a hillside above the soy town of Nōma, and at the northern, highest part of that terraced plot stands the main house. Built in 1912, the first year of the Taishō era, it is a single-storey timber dwelling whose walls and the small panels under its eaves are finished in black plaster, kuro-shikkui, giving the whole building a dark, weighty presence that is unusual and immediately memorable.
This was the home of a family whose name, Kikko-ishi, marked their soy sauce. The brewing happened lower down the slope; the house sat above it, looking out over the work that paid for it.
How the House Is Built
The main house runs east to west, its long ridge set across the top of the plot. The roof is an irimoya form, hipped below and gabled above, finished in ribbed sangawara pantile, with a continuous lean-to skirt called a geya wrapped around all four sides. That skirt lowers the eaves close to the ground and gives the building its broad, settled stance. The plan measures roughly sixteen metres along the front and ten metres deep.
Inside, the house divides cleanly. The eastern part is doma, a packed-earth floor that in a working household served as the threshold between outdoors and in, used for entry and for tasks that suited a hard floor. The western part is raised, floored in timber for the living rooms. This split between earth and raised wood is one of the oldest organising ideas in the Japanese farmhouse and merchant house alike, and here it shapes the whole layout.
The black plaster is the signature. Kuro-shikkui is made by mixing pigment and soot into the lime render, and it asks more of the plasterer than ordinary white finish. On the small walls beneath the eaves and across the outer walls it reads as deliberate, a choice of gravity over brightness, and it is what gives the house its dignified, almost severe face.
Why It Was Registered, and What to Look For
The main house was placed on the national register of tangible cultural properties on 9 February 2005, registered as number 37-0242 among the seven Ishii buildings listed that day. The criterion was its contribution to the historic character of the landscape. As a registered property rather than a designated Important Cultural Property, it remains in private hands under a lighter regime of protection, recognised but not frozen.
Its value lies in being the anchor of an intact brewing estate. Soy sauce families on Shōdoshima often built their houses, gates, storehouses and brewing sheds as a single composition keyed to the slope, and the Ishii compound survives with that arrangement legible. The main house is the residential summit of it, set above the gate, the detached annex, the storehouses and the brewing sheds that step down the terraces below.
For the visitor, the rewards are in the exterior. Look at the black plaster and how it changes the mood of an otherwise familiar farmhouse silhouette. Trace the low geya skirt around the four sides. Then let your eye follow the stone walls downhill and notice how the house sits at the head of a working compound rather than alone. The relationship between dwelling and brewery is the point.
The house is a private residence and is not open to the public; please view it from outside and respect that it remains a home. To step inside a building of this world, the Marukin Soy Sauce Memorial Museum nearby is open to visitors, and the Hishio-no-Sato walking routes thread past the brewing streets of Nōma.
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Q&A
- Is the main house open to visitors?
- No. It is a private residence and the interior is not open. You are welcome to view the exterior from the public road, where the black plaster and the overall composition are best appreciated.
- What is the black finish on the walls?
- It is kuro-shikkui, black lime plaster coloured with soot and pigment. It is harder to apply than the usual white finish and gives the house a dark, dignified appearance that sets it apart from neighbouring buildings.
- Why is part of the floor earthen?
- The eastern half is a doma, a packed-earth floor used for entry and for household work. The western half is raised and floored in timber for living. This division of earth and raised floor is a long-standing feature of older Japanese houses.
- When was the house built?
- In 1912, the first year of the Taishō era. It is the residential core of an estate whose other buildings range across the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa decades.
- How does the house relate to the soy sauce business?
- The family lived here while brewing took place lower on the same terraced plot. The house sits at the top of the slope above the gate, annex, storehouses and brewing sheds, so the whole compound reads as one working soy estate.
Basic Information
| Name | Kikko-ishi Ishii Family Residence, Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 262 Saka-no-yama-kō, Nōma, Shōdoshima-chō, Shōzu-gun, Kagawa Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), No. 37-0242 |
| Registered | 9 February 2005 (gazetted 28 February 2005) |
| Registration criterion | Contributes to the historic character of the national landscape |
| Built | 1912 (Taishō 1) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Structure | Timber, single storey, tiled roof, building area about 158 m²; plan roughly 16 m by 10 m |
| Access | Private residence; exterior viewing only, interior not open |
References
- National Database of Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Kikko-ishi Ishii Family Residence, Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004650
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kikko-ishi Ishii Family Residence, Main House
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/189380
- Walking the Hishio-no-Sato soy district, Shōdoshima (My Kagawa)
- https://www.my-kagawa.jp/shodoshima/feature/shodoshima/beauty3
- Shōdoshima Town: the Sanuki soy sauce brewing tradition
- https://www.town.shodoshima.lg.jp/gyousei/kakuka/shogaigakushuka/2/5909.html
Last verified: 2026.06.25