Miyagino Natto Factory Lignite Hut

A Shed for the Boiler's Fuel

The Miyagino Natto Factory Lignite Hut (宮城野納豆製造所亜炭小屋, Miyagino Nattō Seizōsho Atangoya) is a small single-storey timber shed of about 1950 at the Miyagino Natto Factory in Ichomachi, Miyagino-ku, Sendai, used to store lignite for the neighbouring boiler, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on September 10, 2019.

It stands on the site boundary southeast of the Boiler Room, facing west. The iron-sheet roof slopes in one direction only. The front and sides are left open rather than walled, with Shitami-itabari clapboard dado walls everywhere except the middle of the front.

It is timber-framed with a metal-sheet roof and a building area of just 13 square metres, the smallest of the seven registered buildings.

Why It Was Registered

Registered as number 04-173 for its contribution to the historic landscape, it is described by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as conveying, together with the Boiler Room, the power plant of a modern food factory.

Lignite is low-grade brown coal. Fuel sheds like this lose their purpose the moment a factory switches to oil or gas, which makes them among the easiest buildings to lose. Because this one survives alongside the boiler it served, you can follow the heat from delivery to fire.

That a 13-square-metre shed was listed in its own right says something about how the site was assessed. The Miyagino Natto Factory Lignite Hut matters because the picture of an early food factory is only complete with the small buildings that kept the process going.

What to Look For

The design is simple and practical. The front and sides, facing into the site, are open above a low clapboard wall, making it easy to shovel out fuel and letting the air move through.

The back, which faces the street, is the delivery side, fitted with a top-hung door that swings inward. Lignite was tipped in from the road and taken out on the yard side for the boiler, so delivery and use were kept to opposite faces of the hut.

With its back on the street, the hut handled fuel right at the edge of the site, so deliveries never had to cross the factory yard.

Visiting

The Miyagino Natto Factory Lignite Hut stands inside a working factory site that is walled and closed to the public.

No notice on photography was found. If you photograph from the street, be mindful of the active factory and nearby homes. Directions and contact details for enquiries are on the Miyagino Natto Factory page.