Shioda Family Residence North Storehouse: A Working Vault on the Brewery Path
Where the lane from the stone bridge over the Umaki River runs toward the soy sauce works, a two-storey earthen storehouse stands on the line of travel. This is the north storehouse of the Shioda Family Residence, in the Maki district of Shodoshima, Kagawa Prefecture, part of the compound held by the family behind Yamasan Soy Sauce. Built in the early Showa years, it belongs to a group of buildings raised as the brewing business grew.
The storehouse sits on its ridge east to west, roofed with hongawara formal tiles over a kirizuma gable, and rises two floors in the dozo tradition of thick fire-resistant earthen walls. Its base is cut granite, laid as squared masonry, and a single tobira doorway opens on the south face. A building of this kind was not decoration but equipment: a place to keep goods and stock dry and safe from fire, set deliberately along the route that linked the family's living quarters to the working brewery.
Why It Was Registered
The north storehouse was entered on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 25 June 2002, in the thirty-third round, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. That phrasing points to its value beyond its own walls. Standing near the northwest corner of the residence lot, the storehouse joins the board fence that wraps around from the direction of the east annex, and together they form part of the outer edge of the household.
In other words, the building earns its place partly by how it defines a boundary. The granite base, the tiled gable, and the plastered upper walls read as a continuous surface with the fence beside them, so the storehouse acts as both a container for goods and a wall for the compound. It is a good example of how a brewing family's utilitarian structures also shaped the streetscape of the Hishio no Sato district.
What to Look For
Start at the foot of the wall. The squared granite blocks of the base sit flush and tight, a reminder that Shodoshima was a stone island as much as a soy sauce island, and that quarried granite was close at hand for foundations like this one. Above the stone, the earthen walls carry the weight of the tiled gable roof.
Then step back to see the storehouse and fence as one line. Read from the lane, the pairing shows how the compound presented a closed, worked face to the passer-by while keeping its yards private behind. Because this is a private, operating property, the storehouse is viewed from outside; the surrounding streets of the brewing quarter can be walked freely, and the Marukin Soy Sauce Memorial Museum nearby offers an interior look at how such buildings were used.
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Q&A
- What is the north storehouse for?
- It is a dozo earthen storehouse for keeping goods dry and safe from fire, built along the path that led from the residence to the brewery.
- When was it built and registered?
- It dates from the early Showa period and was registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property on 25 June 2002.
- Why is the base made of granite?
- Shodoshima has long quarried granite, so squared stone was readily available and well suited to a solid, level foundation for a heavy earthen storehouse.
- How does it relate to the fence beside it?
- The storehouse and the board fence together form the outer edge of the compound near its northwest corner, which is part of why the building was registered.
- Can visitors go inside?
- Not casually; it is private property. The exterior is visible from the lane, and the Marukin Soy Sauce Memorial Museum nearby is open for a closer look at brewing-era buildings.
Basic Information
| Name | Shioda Family Residence North Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 140-2 Ishii-ko, Noma, Shodoshima-cho, Shozu-gun, Kagawa Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Registration date | 25 June 2002 (Heisei 14), 33rd round |
| Count | One building |
| Period | Early Showa |
| Structure | Two-storey earthen storehouse; tiled roof; building area about 39 sq m |
| Owner and use | Yamasan Soy Sauce (private, operating property) |
| Access | Exterior only, viewable from the public lane |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00002830
- Cultural Heritage Online, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/187560
- Hishio no Sato Industrial Heritage, Shodoshima Town
- https://www.town.shodoshima.lg.jp/gyousei/kakuka/shogaigakushuka/2/1/3151.html
- Soy Sauce Warehouses and Stone-Tool Streetscape (Japan Heritage)
- https://japan-heritage.bunka.go.jp/ja/culturalproperties/result/4568/
Last verified: 2026.07.10