diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImport.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImport.java
index bfcc7b186fa6b1..9c4e92fd2d769c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImport.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImport.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.collect.nestedset.NestedSetBuilder;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.collect.nestedset.Order;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.rules.java.JavaRuleOutputJarsProvider.JavaOutput;
+import com.google.devtools.build.lib.packages.Type;
 import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 
@@ -202,7 +203,8 @@ private ImmutableList<Artifact> processWithIjarIfNeeded(
       RuleContext ruleContext,
       ImmutableMap.Builder<Artifact, Artifact> compilationToRuntimeJarMap) {
     ImmutableList.Builder<Artifact> interfaceJarsBuilder = ImmutableList.builder();
-    boolean useIjar = ruleContext.getFragment(JavaConfiguration.class).getUseIjars();
+    boolean useIjar = ruleContext.getFragment(JavaConfiguration.class).getUseIjars()
+        && ruleContext.attributes().get("use_ijar", Type.BOOLEAN);
     for (Artifact jar : jars) {
       Artifact interfaceJar =
           useIjar
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImportBaseRule.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImportBaseRule.java
index 3193cbda6de6fd..e0d3cfd704ff4b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImportBaseRule.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaImportBaseRule.java
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ public RuleClass build(RuleClass.Builder builder, RuleDefinitionEnvironment envi
         for IDE plug-ins or <code>tools.jar</code> for anything running on
         a standard JDK.
         <!-- #END_BLAZE_RULE.ATTRIBUTE --> */
+        .add(attr("use_ijar", BOOLEAN).value(false))
+        /* <!-- #BLAZE_RULE($java_import_base).ATTRIBUTE(use_ijar) -->
+        If you import an oft-changing JAR that doesn't have a Kotlin interface,
+        you can enable this as a caching optimization.
+        Temporarily available until ijar is updated to properly handle Kotlin.
+        For more, see https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/issues/4549.
+        <!-- #END_BLAZE_RULE.ATTRIBUTE --> */
         .add(attr("neverlink", BOOLEAN).value(false))
         /* <!-- #BLAZE_RULE($java_import_base).ATTRIBUTE(constraints) -->
         Extra constraints imposed on this rule as a Java library.
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/view/java/JavaImportConfiguredTargetTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/view/java/JavaImportConfiguredTargetTest.java
index f33783e8640c84..53588f66580a0d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/view/java/JavaImportConfiguredTargetTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/view/java/JavaImportConfiguredTargetTest.java
@@ -55,10 +55,12 @@ public final void writeBuildFile() throws Exception {
     scratch.file(
         "java/jarlib/BUILD",
         "java_import(name = 'libraryjar',",
-        "            jars = ['library.jar'])",
+        "            jars = ['library.jar'],",
+        "            use_ijar = True)",
         "java_import(name = 'libraryjar_with_srcjar',",
         "            jars = ['library.jar'],",
-        "            srcjar = 'library.srcjar')");
+        "            srcjar = 'library.srcjar',",
+        "            use_ijar = True)");
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -130,11 +132,14 @@ public void testDeps() throws Exception {
         "            jars = ['import.jar'],",
         "            deps = ['//java/jarlib2:depjar'],",
         "            exports = ['//java/jarlib2:exportjar'],",
+        "            use_ijar = True",
         ")",
         "java_import(name  = 'depjar',",
-        "            jars = ['depjar.jar'])",
+        "            jars = ['depjar.jar'],",
+        "            use_ijar = True)",
         "java_import(name  = 'exportjar',",
-        "            jars = ['exportjar.jar'])");
+        "            jars = ['exportjar.jar'],",
+        "            use_ijar = True)");
 
     ConfiguredTarget importJar = getConfiguredTarget("//java/jarlib2:import-jar");
 
@@ -210,7 +215,8 @@ public void testFromGenrule() throws Exception {
         "java_import(name  = 'library-jar',",
         "            jars = [':generated_jar'],",
         "            srcjar = ':generated_src_jar',",
-        "            exports = ['//java/jarlib:libraryjar'])");
+        "            exports = ['//java/jarlib:libraryjar'],",
+        "            use_ijar = True)");
     ConfiguredTarget jarLib = getConfiguredTarget("//java/genrules:library-jar");
 
     JavaCompilationArgsProvider compilationArgs =
@@ -441,7 +447,8 @@ public void testTransitiveDependencies() throws Exception {
         "             deps = ['//java/jarlib:libraryjar'])",
         "java_import(name  = 'library2-jar',",
         "            jars = ['library2.jar'],",
-        "            exports = [':lib'])",
+        "            exports = [':lib'],",
+        "            use_ijar = True)",
         "java_library(name  = 'javalib2',",
         "             srcs = ['Other.java'],",
         "             deps = [':library2-jar'])");
@@ -464,6 +471,7 @@ public void testRuntimeDepsAreNotOnClasspath() throws Exception {
         "    name = 'import_dep',",
         "    jars = ['import_compile.jar'],",
         "    runtime_deps = ['import_runtime.jar'],",
+        "    use_ijar = True",
         ")",
         "java_library(",
         "    name = 'library_dep',",