Kinryo Soy Sauce Brewery (Shodoshima)

About Kinryo

Kinryo (金両) is a soy sauce brewery on the left bank of the Umaki River at Noma, Shodoshima Town, Shozu District, Kagawa Prefecture, whose Taisho-era north moromi storehouse and soy sauce storehouse, and the main house, storehouse, main gate and wall of the brewer's Fujii family residence, were registered as six Registered Tangible Cultural Property structures on January 31, 2003. They are owned by Kinryo Co., Ltd. (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the northern half of the trapezoidal site holds the brewing works and the southern half the residence, preserving a homestead where the brewer's house and storehouses form a single whole.

Six Structures

The north moromi storehouse, 80 metres long in the north-west corner of the site, is the centre of the brewing works. The soy sauce storehouse, 22 metres long, stands to its south, with a raised ventilating roof along almost the whole ridge and king-post trusses; it was originally the koji mixing room and machine room (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Fujii main house of about 1918 is a two-storey hip-and-gable building made to look like a house with a low upper floor, with a ten-mat reception room and a counting room. The storehouse of 1918 has a hongawara tile roof and plaster relief on the window brackets. The main gate centres on a yakuimon said to have been the gate of the defunct temple Hachimanji, and earthen and brick walls enclose the south and west of the site (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Hishio no Sato

According to Shodoshima Town, Hishio no Sato is an area of soy sauce breweries and the houses of families who prospered from the trade; many brewery buildings are registered cultural properties still used for brewing today.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the east and west moromi stores of Shokin Soy Sauce at Umaki were originally Kinryo's storehouses when the firm was founded.

Visiting and Location

Shodoshima Town advises checking with each business before visiting the soy sauce breweries of Hishio no Sato. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the western half of the Kinryo soy sauce storehouse is used as a soy sauce shop. The address is 842-1 Uchihama-ko, Noma, Shodoshima Town; enquiries to the Shodoshima Town lifelong learning section (0879-82-7015).