Shodoshima Town

Once a year, seen from a stone grandstand.

Ikeda's grandstand

Photo by 663highland (CC BY 2.5)

01 ／ Soy sauce warehouses

74 soy sauce warehouses and mansionsare National Tangible Cultural Properties.

In the three districts of Umaki, Noma and Yasuda (馬木・苗羽・安田), soy sauce breweries stand alongside the mansions of merchants who made their fortune in the trade. Most have been registered as National Tangible Cultural Properties since 1996 — 74 buildings, by the Kagawa prefectural board of education's count. Some breweries still use large wooden vats to brew soy sauce the old way.

74 buildings, National Tangible Cultural Properties
Registered since 1996
Umaki, Noma and Yasuda districts

02 ／ Olives

Of three prefectures — Mie, Kagawa and Kagoshima —only Shodoshima's olives bore fruit.

In 1907 the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce designated three prefectures — Mie, Kagawa and Kagoshima — and in 1908 each began trial olive cultivation on 1.2 hectares. Only the olives in Nishimura, Shodoshima Town (西村), grew well. In 1987, marking 80 years since planting, the prefecture erected a monument to "the birthplace of Japanese olives."

1908: trial planting in 3 prefectures
Only Shodoshima's olives bore fruit
1987: birthplace monument erected

03 ／ Terraced rice fields

On a slope 150–250 metres up,800 terraced paddies climb the hill.

Built from the Nanboku-chō period through the Edo period, about 800 terraced paddies covering 12 hectares climb a steep slope at an elevation of 150–250 metres. Their water comes from the Yubune-no-mizu (湯船の水) spring. In 1999 the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries named them one of Japan's "100 Best Terraced Rice Fields."

About 800 paddies on 12 hectares
150–250 metres above sea level
Named one of Japan's Top 100 in 1999

Living here

60 minutes to Takamatsu, 100 to Himeji, 200 to Kobe.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

The town was formed in 2006 by merging Uchinomi Town (内海町) and Ikeda Town (池田町), and ferries are the only link to Honshu and Shikoku. It also has Kankakei Gorge (寒霞渓), a National Site of Scenic Beauty straddling the border with Tonoshō Town; the old schoolhouse at Taura (田浦), the setting of the novel and film Twenty-Four Eyes; Myōō-ji's Shaka Hall (明王寺釈迦堂), a National Important Cultural Property; the cycad at Seigan-ji (誓願寺のソテツ), a National Natural Monument; the Iwaya stone quarry (岩谷の石丁場跡), a National Historic Site where stone was cut for Osaka Castle; and the Nakayama kabuki stage (中山の舞台), a National Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property.

People living here: 13,870people
Area: 95.59km²
Households: 6,160households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 8 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —2 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Shodoshima Town in Japan34.480°N 134.309°E

to TakamatsuKokusai Ryobi Ferry60min
to HimejiShodoshima Ferry100min
to KobeJumbo Ferry200min

Travel times follow 町公式「小豆島へ行く」（kanko/access/access_to_island.html・2022-02-16 更新）に掲載の航路と所要時間。掲載順に、高松港→池田港（国際両備フェリー・60分）、高松港→土庄港（四国フェリー・60分／高速艇35分、土庄港は土庄町なので採らない）、姫路港→福田港（小豆島フェリー・100分）、神戸三宮フェリーターミナル→坂手港（小豆島ジャンボフェリー・3時間20分）、新岡山港→土庄港（土庄町なので採らない）、日生港→大部港（土庄町なので採らない）、宇野港→土庄港（土庄町なので採らない） (checked 2026-09-25). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 1 municipalities.

Territory of Shodoshima Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

16.7km

土庄町

Shodoshima Town isthis kind of town.

01Ikeda's grandstand (池田の桟敷) is an 18m-high, 80m-long stone terrace built solely to view Kameyama Hachiman Shrine's autumn festival on October 16 — a National Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property
02In the Hishio-no-Sato (醤の郷) soy sauce district of Umaki, Noma and Yasuda, breweries and merchants' mansions stand together; 74 buildings have been registered as National Tangible Cultural Properties since 1996, and some breweries still use large wooden vats
03Nishimura (西村) is the birthplace of Japanese olive cultivation, where trees alone bore fruit in a 1908 trial across three prefectures, while Nakayama (中山) has terraced paddies climbing 150–250 metres, named one of Japan's Top 100 Terraced Rice Fields

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Shodoshima Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗