Interview with Director Miyake of the Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum
We spoke with Takeo Miyake, director of the Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum.
Could you tell us how the Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum came to open?
Miyake (titles omitted)
It all began in 1988, when the Seto-Ohashi Bridge opened. Local groups and others petitioned Okayama Prefecture, saying, “We want to promote the best of Shimotsui so visitors will stay longer.”
The prefecture purchased the building and restored it. The facility was then transferred to Kurashiki City, and for about the past 10 years, our NPO, the Washuzan Landscape Preservation Association, has managed and operated it.
Why did herring meal come to be unloaded at Shimotsui Port?
Miyake
Southern Okayama Prefecture was once called “Kibi no Anaumi” and was originally sea. People reclaimed the land to grow crops, but the reclaimed land was too salty for rice to grow.
So they cultivated cotton, which was believed to absorb salt and improve the soil.
At the time, around Otaru in Hokkaido, people extracted oil from freshly caught herring to sell for use in lanterns. The herring meal left after the oil was extracted was then carried across the Sea of Japan as fertilizer on Kitamaebune ships, passing through Shimonoseki before being brought here to Shimotsui.
The white-walled storehouses were used to store herring meal.
The shipping agents sold the herring meal brought by Kitamaebune ships to what is now southern Okayama Prefecture, and made their living selling local specialties such as cotton and salt to the ships. Herring meal helped cotton cultivation flourish in Kurashiki.
Shimotsui is a small port town, but more than 20 wholesalers, including over 10 shipping agents, once lined a single street.
What are some highlights?
Miyake
The building of the Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum dates back about 170 years, to the late Edo period.
When we opened the museum, we gathered not only items from this house but also old household goods, fishing gear, and items used in business that had been left in homes around town, so visitors could learn about life in Shimotsui. The Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum can be said to embody the entire town of Shimotsui.
Along with learning about the history of the relationship between Kitamaebune ships and Shimotsui, I hope visitors will also reflect on the lives of the people of that time.
Do you have a message for our readers?
Miyake
Admission is free, and so is my guided tour. Please feel free to visit.
Also, if you walk a little farther and climb to the hill where Gion Shrine stands, you’ll find a superb vantage point with sweeping views of the Shikoku Mountains and Shikoku, as well as the Seto-Ohashi Bridge.
I hope you’ll enjoy the atmosphere of this port town, too.
From the Writer
At the foot of the Seto-Ohashi Bridge lies the compact yet expansive town of Shimotsui.
How many ships once lowered their sails in this small port town, and how lively was it? Listening to Director Miyake, it felt as though the bustle of those days and the atmosphere of the port town were coming back to life.
Why not take a glimpse into the history of how Kitamaebune ships brought prosperity to Shimotsui through the Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum, and helped Kurashiki develop into a textile town?
Articles about Kurashiki City's Japan Heritage
Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum Information
| Name | Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-7-23 Shimotsui, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | 086-479-7890 |
| Parking | Available |
| Opening hours | 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (admission until 4:30 p.m.) After 5:00 p.m., use the parking-lot entrance to access Kura Hall (restaurant and Cantina Tomi). |
| Closed | Tuesday If Tuesday is a public holiday, the museum is open and closed the following Wednesday. Closed for the year-end and New Year holidays (December 29–January 3). |
| Admission (tax included) | Free |
| Reservations | Available Please make a reservation by fax (086-479-7819) if you require a guided tour. |
| Smoking | Non-smoking (smoking permitted only in designated areas) Smoking area available in the parking lot |
| Restrooms | Western-style toilets, Japanese-style toilets, accessible restroom Accessible by wheelchair |
| Childcare | Diaper-changing table Multipurpose childcare space in the restroom |
| Accessibility | Accessible restroom |
| Website | Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum |
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