Kamebishi Office and Exhibition Room
Facing west onto Hikita's central street stands the former main house of Kamebishi. Its core dates to 1780, with a frontage of roughly 19 meters. The hipped-and-gabled roof is covered in formal hongawara tiles, and a kitchen wing projects at the northeast while a reception room was added to the south in the late Edo period.
Founded in 1753 by the Okada family, Kamebishi has brewed soy sauce in Hikita for more than two hundred and seventy years. In an age when koji-making was almost entirely mechanized, it alone held to the mushiro-koji method and is now the last brewery in the country to use it.
The street-facing core runs about 19 meters wide, an assertive scale for a merchant house of the period. The upper floor is a low tsushi-nikai half-story tucked under the eaves. The kitchen wing (kamaya) juts out at the northeast, a reminder of the working spaces a brewing family needed, while the southern reception room was a later Edo addition for domestic use.
Why It Matters
At 372 square meters this is the largest of the 18 registered buildings, and with a 1780 core it is among the oldest. In recent years the family repainted the whole compound in a unified red-ochre (bengara) scheme, and this building has become the recognizable face of the Hikita townscape.
The heart of Kamebishi's craft is the mushiro-koji method, in which koji is grown on hand-woven mats rather than in machines. The mats draw off excess water and even out the temperature, and the koji that results carries a character the family regards as the source of its flavor.
What to Notice
Kamebishi is known for the deep red of its walls. The family has painted the buildings in bengara, a red-ochre finish, so that a continuous red frontage runs along the street beneath the grey tiles, a scene particular to this brewery.
Today the building holds the office, shop and a small exhibition. Visitors can taste and buy soy sauce and learn about the mushiro-koji method. The broad tiled roof over the street and the red-ochre walls begin here and carry the eye onward across the rest of the compound.
At the on-site shop you can sample and purchase soy sauce and moromi, and try soy-flavored treats; a small tea house offers udon dishes. As an operating brewery and private property, the compound keeps most buildings closed to visitors, with hours varying by season, so checking in advance is recommended.
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Q&A
- What is the Kamebishi Office and Exhibition Room?
- It is one of eighteen buildings at the Kamebishi soy sauce brewery in Hikita, Higashikagawa, Kagawa Prefecture, all registered as Tangible Cultural Properties in 2003. This building dates to the Anei 9 (1780), with additions in the late Edo period and served as the former main house, now the office, shop and exhibition room.
- What is the mushiro-koji method that Kamebishi keeps?
- It is a way of making koji by spreading inoculated steamed soybeans and roasted wheat on mats woven from rush or rice straw for a few days. The mats regulate moisture and even out the temperature. Kamebishi is the only brewery in Japan that still uses it.
- Can visitors go inside this building?
- This is a working brewery and private company property, and most buildings, including this one, are not open inside. The shop and tea house in other buildings on the site welcome visitors for soy sauce, moromi and udon; hours change with the season, so check before visiting.
- When and why was it designated?
- It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 19 September 2003 under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. The listing recognizes it as part of the historic brewery compound whose red-ochre walls define the Hikita streetscape.
Basic Information
| Name | Kamebishi Office and Exhibition Room (かめびし事務室及び展示室) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2174 Hikita, Higashikagawa, Kagawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), No. 37-0157 |
| Registered | Registered 19 September 2003 |
| Criterion | Contributing to the historic landscape of the nation |
| Date | Anei 9 (1780), with additions in the late Edo period |
| Structure | two-story timber structure with a partly single-story section, tiled roof, building area 372 m2 |
| Count | 1 building |
| Owner | Kamebishi (limited partnership) |
| Access | Working brewery and private property; most buildings not open inside. Shop and tea house on site; hours vary by season. |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003600
- かめびし屋（東かがわ市観光情報サイト）
- https://higashikagawa.net/sightseeing/kamebishiya
- かめびし屋 公式サイト
- https://kamebishi.co.jp/
Last verified: 2026.07.02