A Roof Built in Two Storeys of Its Own
The Main House of the Takahashi Family Residence (高橋家住宅主屋, Takahashi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a late Edo period farmhouse in the Yasuda district of Shōdoshima-chō, Shōzu County, Kagawa Prefecture, and was entered on Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 8 November 2004.
It stands near the middle of its plot, facing more or less south, single-storeyed, roofed in sangawara tile, with the ridge running parallel to the front so that the entrance is on the long side. The distinguishing feature is what happens at the roof. A gabled core rises in the centre, and a lower pent roof, the geya-bisashi, runs continuously around all four of its sides. From outside the building reads as two roofs stacked, the smaller sitting on the broad skirt of the larger.
This is the form called shihōbuta-zukuri, literally "four-sided lid" construction, and it is a regional signature of eastern Shikoku. The usual version pairs a thatched core with tiled skirts, and the contrast in material makes the two levels obvious at a glance. Here the core is tiled as well, which flattens that contrast and leaves the stepped silhouette to do the work on its own.
A wing projects from the western gable end, and the plan retains a tōri-doma, the earth-floored passage that runs straight through the house from front to back. Building area is 157 square metres.
What the Register Records, and What It Does Not
Agency for Cultural Affairs documentation dates the house to the late Edo period, between 1830 and 1867, and notes that it is said to have been acquired second-hand from an existing dwelling. That phrasing matters. It is family tradition rather than documented fact, and no ridge tag or construction record is cited to fix a year.
The same documentation acknowledges later alterations while stating that the structural methods of the late Edo period survive. Read together, the picture is of a house that has been lived in continuously and adapted as needed, rather than preserved as an exhibit. The registration criterion applied is the one for structures that serve as a standard of design, which points at the roof form: the value lies in this being a clear, legible example of shihōbuta-zukuri rather than in the building being untouched.
Some care is needed with the name. Several properties called Takahashi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku are on the national register, including one at Minamiyasa-chō in Tokushima City that dates from 1799, measures 138 square metres, and is also built in the shihōbuta form. That house is documented by a ridge tag, has a thatched core, and is connected with indigo production. It is a different property in a different prefecture, and material about it does not describe the Shōdoshima house.
Yasuda, and How to Understand the House Without Entering It
Yasuda sits on the eastern side of Shōdoshima, at one end of the stretch of coast road that Shōdoshima-chō promotes as Hishio no Sato, the district of fermented seasoning. Soy sauce brewing took hold on the island from the late sixteenth century onward and reached its height in the Meiji period, when something in the order of four hundred producers worked here. Around twenty remain. Between Yasuda and the port of Sakate, breweries and tsukudani plants line the road, and a good number of their buildings carry the same registered status as the Takahashi house.
That is the context to hold in mind. A house of this size and quality in Yasuda in the late Edo period belonged to a settled, prosperous island community whose wealth came from salt, then soy sauce, then the goods that followed from both, and whose builders had the resources to raise a roof in two tiers.
Practical Details
The Takahashi Family Residence is a private home. No opening hours, admission arrangements or interior access are announced, and the national database records no owner name. Visitors should not enter the grounds or photograph into the property. Registration confers no right of access.
Anyone wanting to see the interior of a comparable Shikoku farmhouse has good options. Shikoku Mura at Yashima in Takamatsu displays more than thirty relocated buildings, including stone storehouses brought from Shōdoshima, and its interiors can be entered. On the island itself, the Marukin Soy Sauce Memorial Museum at Nōma occupies a registered brewing works of the early Taishō period and admits visitors, and several working breweries in the Hishio no Sato area open their sheds.
Shōdoshima is reached by ferry from Takamatsu, Uno, Himeji, Kobe and elsewhere. Kusakabe is the port closest to Yasuda; Sakate lies a short distance further along the same coast. A car or the island bus network is needed once ashore.
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Q&A
- Can I visit the Main House of the Takahashi Family Residence on Shōdoshima?
- No. It is a private home in the Yasuda district of Shōdoshima-chō, with no announced opening hours or interior access. Please do not enter the grounds or photograph into the property.
- What is the shihōbuta-zukuri roof of the Takahashi Family Residence Main House?
- It is a regional roof form of eastern Shikoku in which a gabled central core is surrounded on all four sides by a continuous lower pent roof, producing a stepped, two-tier silhouette. In the Takahashi house both levels are tiled; in many other examples the core is thatched.
- How old is the Main House of the Takahashi Family Residence?
- Agency for Cultural Affairs records place it in the late Edo period, between 1830 and 1867. The family tradition that the building was acquired from an existing dwelling is recorded in the same source, and no documentary evidence fixing an exact year is cited.
- Is this the same as the Takahashi Family Residence in Tokushima?
- No. A separate registered property of the same name stands at Minamiyasa-chō in Tokushima City, dates from 1799, measures 138 square metres, and is associated with indigo production. The Shōdoshima house is a different building in Kagawa Prefecture with a building area of 157 square metres.
- What is there to see near the Takahashi Family Residence in Yasuda?
- Yasuda stands at one end of the Hishio no Sato soy sauce district. Breweries and tsukudani works line the road toward Sakate port, many of them registered structures, and the Marukin Soy Sauce Memorial Museum at Nōma occupies a registered brewing works that is open to visitors.
Basic Information
| Name | Takahashi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku (高橋家住宅主屋), Main House of the Takahashi Family Residence |
|---|---|
| Location | Aza-Uematsu Kō 142, Yasuda, Shōdoshima-chō, Shōzu County, Kagawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure); registration number 37-0219; criterion: serves as a standard of design |
| Year Designated | Registered 8 November 2004; public notice 29 November 2004 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single-storey, tiled roof; building area 157 m² |
| Owner | Not recorded in the national database (private) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public. Private residence; no interior or grounds access |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs) — Takahashi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004428
- Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education — Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in Kagawa
- https://www.pref.kagawa.lg.jp/kenkyoui/shogaigakushu/bunkazai/culturalassets/culturalassets_16.html
- Shodoshima Tourism Association — Hishio no Sato
- https://shodoshima.or.jp/sightseeing/detail.php?id=270&c=2
- Shōdoshima Town — Registration of Sanuki soy sauce brewing techniques as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property
- https://www.town.shodoshima.lg.jp/gyousei/kakuka/shogaigakushuka/2/5909.html
- Cultural Heritage Online — Takahashi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku, Tokushima City (separate property, for disambiguation)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/186030
Last verified: 2026.08.09