Mitani Seito Hane Sanuki Honpo Former Cowshed

A Cowshed at a Sugar Works

The Mitani Seito Hane Sanuki Honpo Former Cowshed (三谷製糖羽根さぬき本舗旧牛舎) is a timber cowshed of the Taisho period (1912–1925) at a wasanbon sugar works in Umayado, Higashikagawa City, Kagawa Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on August 21, 2002 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a Taisho-period building relocated in the early Showa period, a two-storey timber structure with a tile roof and a building area of 96 square metres, measuring 12 metres by 4.5 metres; registration number 37-0129.

A sugar works kept cattle because oxen were used to pull round the shimeguruma, the mill that crushed the sugar cane (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Built for the Oxen That Turned the Mill

The Mitani Seito Hane Sanuki Honpo Former Cowshed stands on the plot west of the main house, with its ridge running east to west (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It was built to stable the oxen that pulled the cane mill.

The roof is gabled and laid in hongawarabuki, the older system of alternating flat and round tiles. Lean-tos project on both the north and south sides, and a wing juts out at the north-west. The walls are boarded, and the Agency calls it a plain cowshed.

The relocation is dated to the early Showa period. The Agency record does not say where the building came from or how long cattle were kept in it.

Why It Was Registered

The registration criterion is that the building contributes to the historic landscape of Japan (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Agency rates the Mitani Seito Hane Sanuki Honpo Former Cowshed as a valuable record of how wasanbon was once made, when cane was crushed by animal power.

What to Look For

The Mitani Seito Hane Sanuki Honpo Former Cowshed has a roof of traditional round and flat tiles. Compare it with the pantiled roof of the sugar boiling house attached to the main house (both after the Agency's descriptions).

The main block is long and narrow, 12 metres by 4.5 metres, running east to west. The lean-tos on the north and south and the wing at the north-west are attached to it (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

No official information was found on interior access, photography or the present use of the Mitani Seito Hane Sanuki Honpo Former Cowshed. The shop on the premises is open to customers; directions and opening hours are on the Mitani Seito Hane Sanuki Honpo page.