Shiotazu District of Ureshino City

A River Port Town of Plastered Merchant Houses

The Shiotazu District of Ureshino City (嬉野市塩田津) is a townscape in Shiota-machi, Ureshino City, Saga Prefecture, which flourished as a river port using the tides of the Ariake Sea, selected in 2005 as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a district of 12.8 hectares.

The Agency explains that Shiotazu handled rice, ceramics and Amakusa pottery stone, and prospered as an economic centre.

The Townscape

In the Shiotazu District of Ureshino City, according to the Agency, merchant houses of the kind called izoya, which spread after a great fire in 1789, survive mainly along the main street.

High stone walls on the river side have steps down to the water and washing places, giving the district its river-port character.

What to Look For

The Japan Heritage portal (Nagasaki City) notes that the Shiotazu District of Ureshino City was also a post town on the Nagasaki Kaido and the centre of the western part of the Hasunoike domain. From the late Edo period, large plastered izoya resistant to fire and flood created a solid townscape, with stone figures of Nio guardians and Ebisu in Shiota stone around the town.

Around 1751 to 1772, sugar and other merchants lined the street, and the Nishi house, once a confectioner, survives as a traditional building.

Visiting the Shiotazu District of Ureshino City

The streets can be walked freely. Many houses are lived in, so respect residents' privacy.

Ureshino City gives the Shiotazu Townscape Preservation Society, 0954-66-3550, as the contact.