An Early Showa Tea House, Registered in 2022
Gamagori Classic Hotel Oshukutei (former Tokiwakan Annex Tea House) (蒲郡クラシックホテル鶯宿亭（旧常磐館別館茶室）) is a tea house at 451-1 and adjoining lots, Takeshima-cho, Gamagori City, Aichi Prefecture, entered on the national register of tangible cultural properties on 17 February 2022. The quantity is one building: timber, single storey, tiled roof, with a footprint of 90 square metres. It belongs to Gamagori Classic Hotel Co.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the period as early Showa, 1926 to 1945. The date is given as a span because the exact year is not established. The owner's own account likewise puts it between 1931 and 1936 and states that the year of building is not certain. Some accounts place it in the Taisho era, but the Agency's field reads early Showa. This article does not choose among them and records that the accounts vary.
The Agency's commentary runs: a tea house on the hill south of the main building. Single storey, with a complex hip-and-gable roof of pantiles. From the west entrance a matted corridor and an anteroom lead to an eight-mat guest room with alcove and shelves to the southeast, and a three-and-three-quarter-mat tea room with a preparation room to the southwest. Log timbers are used throughout in the sukiya manner, and Mikawa Bay is seen through glass doors: a detached building of graceful modern Japanese character.
The Size of the Tea Room
The tea room to the southwest is of the size called sanjo daime.
That is three mats plus a daime mat, a mat three quarters the usual length used for the host's serving place. Three mats and three quarters, in other words.
This size belongs to the small tea rooms that descend from Sen no Rikyu. In so tight a space host and guest sit facing each other. The preparation room adjoining is where the utensils are made ready.
Besides the tea room, an eight-mat guest room with alcove and shelves lies to the southeast. Tea room and guest room are separate, so the building holds both a small room for the tea ceremony and a larger one for receiving people.
Log Timbers and the Sukiya Manner
The Agency writes of log timbers used throughout in the sukiya manner.
Sukiya is a domestic manner that takes up the treatment of the tea room. Logs are used rather than squared timber, and members retaining their bark are employed. The timber is not squared off in milling; the shape of the tree is left to be seen.
The roof is hip-and-gable in pantiles, and the Agency calls its composition complex. Hip-and-gable forms are combined to give the roof relief, so the outline is not simple even in a single-storey building.
The entrance is on the west, and a matted corridor and anteroom lead inward. Several spaces are crossed between entrance and tea room. One does not step straight into the tea room but reaches it through an interval.
Mikawa Bay Through Glass Doors
The Agency's closing phrase places the Gamagori Classic Hotel Oshukutei: Mikawa Bay seen through glass doors, a detached building of graceful modern Japanese character.
Glass doors in a tea house are a modern device. A traditional tea room shuts out the world with paper screens and earthen walls, making an inward space. Here glass doors are set and the view is drawn in.
What the Agency means by modern Japanese is that pairing. The traditional dimensions of a three-and-three-quarter-mat tea room and a view through glass stand in one building.
Four buildings including this one were registered together on 17 February 2022: the main building (former Gamagori Hotel main building), the Takeshima restaurant (former Tokiwakan plum annexe), the Rokkakudo (former Gamagori Hotel Shubido) and this tea house. Each carries its own registration, and the former names divide them into two lines. The Oshukutei belongs with the Takeshima restaurant to the former Tokiwakan line.
Using the Building
The Oshukutei was refitted in 2025 and is in use as a facility with a tea room. Seeing the interior means becoming a guest.
Conditions of use and charges can change, so check before travelling. Registration brings no opening days and no admission charge.
Registration is a separate mechanism from designation: it works by notification and leaves the owner wide freedom to keep using the building. Refitting while continuing in use follows from that framework.
From Gamagori Station on the JR Tokaido Main Line it is about five minutes by car or fifteen minutes on foot.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Aichi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Gamagori Classic Hotel Oshukutei (former Tokiwakan Annex Tea House)
- [ Nagoya Castle & Atsuta Shrine History Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the Oshukutei built and registered?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the period as early Showa, 1926 to 1945, as a span because the exact year is not established. The owner's account puts it between 1931 and 1936 and states that the year is not certain. It was registered on 17 February 2022: one building, timber, single storey, tiled roof, footprint 90 square metres.
- What size is the tea room?
- Three mats plus a daime mat, three quarters the usual length, used for the host's serving place. That size belongs to the small tea rooms descending from Sen no Rikyu, in which host and guest sit facing each other in a tight space.
- How is the building laid out?
- From the west entrance a matted corridor and anteroom lead to an eight-mat guest room with alcove and shelves to the southeast, and to the tea room with its preparation room to the southwest. A small room for the ceremony and a larger one for receiving people are both present, and several spaces are crossed on the way in.
- Why is it called modern Japanese?
- The Agency writes of Mikawa Bay seen through glass doors in a detached building of graceful modern Japanese character. A traditional tea room shuts out the world with paper screens and earthen walls; here glass doors draw the view in. Traditional dimensions and a modern opening stand together.
- Can the Oshukutei be seen?
- It was refitted in 2025 and is in use as a facility with a tea room, so seeing the interior means becoming a guest. Registration brings no opening days and no admission charge. Conditions of use and charges can change, so check before travelling.
Basic Information
| Name | Gamagori Classic Hotel Oshukutei (former Tokiwakan Annex Tea House) (蒲郡クラシックホテル鶯宿亭（旧常磐館別館茶室）) |
|---|---|
| Location | 451-1 and adjoining lots, Takeshima-cho, Gamagori City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | 2022 (17 February), registered |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single storey, tiled roof, footprint 90 square metres. Complex hip-and-gable roof in pantiles. From the west entrance a matted corridor and anteroom lead to an 8-mat guest room with alcove and shelves southeast, and a 3-mat-plus-daime tea room with preparation room southwest. Log timbers in the sukiya manner. Early Showa |
| Owner | Gamagori Classic Hotel Co. |
| Public Access | Refitted and in use as a facility with a tea room. The interior is reached as a guest. No opening days or admission charge are set |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: Gamagori Classic Hotel Oshukutei
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/584026
- Cultural Heritage Online: Gamagori Classic Hotel Main Building
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/587713
- Gamagori tourism association
- https://www.gamagori.jp/spot/750
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: the registration system for tangible cultural properties
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/
Last verified: 2026.09.04