Shouya Grigg is a fine art photographer, art collector, and co-founder of Zaborin, as well as the owner and creative director of somoza and SHIGUCHI. Having lived in Hokkaido for over 30 years, he has devoted himself to collecting traditional Hokkaido crafts that embody both ancient culture and contemporary sensibility, while passionately deepening the connection between Japan’s traditional architecture, art, and nature. Both SHIGUCHI and somoza are part of a trilogy that began with the Japanese ryokan Zaborin, all located within the same garden estate. Through these three places, he hopes to express the essence of Japan as he has personally experienced it.

Shouya Grigg’s parents worked for many years in property renovation in the UK and Australia. Influenced by this environment, he developed an early interest in architecture. In the early 1990s, he traveled to Hokkaido every year for skiing and soon grew to love the region, eventually settling in Sapporo. Although passionate about photography, design, and architecture, he lacked a professional architect’s license. In the early 2000s, he founded a design media company in Sapporo, gradually gaining deeper exposure to Japan’s architecture and design fields.

In 2005, Shouya Grigg opened his first restaurant, Sekka, in Sapporo. Soon after its opening, Sekka became one of the first fine-dining restaurants and bars in Niseko. In 2008, he purchased the J-Second Hotel in Niseko, renovated it, and launched his first hotel, J-Sekka. In 2015, together with renowned Hokkaido architect Makoto Nakayama, he created the secluded ryokan Zaborin, which quickly became one of the most sought-after and hardest-to-book hotels in Japan.

In 2016, near Zaborin, Shouya Grigg acquired a 100-year-old Japanese house and transformed it into somoza, a cultural and commercial hub combining a restaurant, café, teahouse, shop, and gallery. It became a contemplative space and an experimental ground for new ideas.

Following Zaborin and somoza, SHIGUCHI represents Shouya Grigg’s most significant investment and the final piece of his cultural trilogy in Hokkaido. Situated alongside somoza, SHIGUCHI is part of a reimagined cluster of traditional houses that now serve as luxury lodgings. Just a short 500-meter walk from Zaborin, together they form a high-end community of dining, hospitality, exhibitions, and cultural exchange. This enclave redefines the relationship between people and nature, offering immersive experiences of culture, heritage, cuisine, hot springs, and the natural world—a true cultural flagship of Hokkaido.