Nakamura Park Hoshoken

A Tea House in Nakamura Park

Nakamura Park Hoshoken (中村公園豊頌軒, Nakamura Koen Hoshoken) is a tea house in Nakamura Park, Nakamura Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, built in the early Meiji period between 1868 and 1882 and entered on Japan's list of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Buildings) in 2017. It faces east on the north shore of Hyotan Pond, screened by trees.

The building is single-storey timber construction, roofed in tile with parts of the eaves sheathed in copper, and covers only 42 square meters. It began life in Sobuecho in what is now Inazawa City and was moved to its present site in 1957. Nagoya City records give its former name as Shorin-an.

The roof is Kirizuma-zukuri laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles. The feature that catches the eye is the copper-sheathed eave, thrust well forward of the wall. It reaches far enough that guests waiting at the crawl-through entrance stay dry in the rain, which tells you it was drawn with the choreography of a tea gathering in mind.

A Tea Room in the Taste of Rokurokusai

Nakamura Park Hoshoken descends from a tea room made, by tradition, to the taste of Rokurokusai, the eleventh-generation head of the Omotesenke school. In tea usage, saying a room was made to someone's taste means it was designed under that master's direction, so the proportions and the choice of timber carry the thinking of the school.

Japan's registration system for buildings runs on three criteria. Nakamura Park Hoshoken qualified under the one for works that set a standard in design. Not landscape value, not rarity of technique, but the design itself judged worth taking as a model. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as plain and refined. Its registration number is 23-0481.

Before the national listing, Nagoya City had already certified Nakamura Park Hoshoken in 2011 as its 21st Certified Regional Architectural Asset. The building came up through municipal townscape policy first and reached Registered Tangible Cultural Property status afterwards.

The Main Room and What Surrounds It

The core of Nakamura Park Hoshoken is a main room of four-and-a-half mats plus a daime. A daime mat is cut to about three quarters of a full Tatami length, which shortens the host's serving area by that much. Pairing four and a half mats with a daime lands between the composure of a large room and the compression of a small one. The layout is honkatte with the alcove at the upper seat, so the guests sit to the host's right and the Tokonoma takes the place of honour.

Around that room sit a Mizuya preparation space to the west, an entrance to the north, and a two-mat-plus-daime waiting room, the yoritsuki, to the northeast. Guests use the yoritsuki to settle themselves before entering. Everything a tea gathering needs fits inside 42 square meters. The smallness is not economy of planning so much as a refusal to include anything that was not needed.

In 1988 a second tea room, Toin Chaseki, went up nearby. The two have been used together ever since, and a gathering moves between them. Nakamura Park Hoshoken is not booked on its own.

Using the Building, and Getting There

There is no visiting scheme for Nakamura Park Hoshoken. The park office states plainly that tours of the tea houses are not offered. The only way inside is to apply for Toin Chaseki and hold a tea gathering; Nakamura Park Hoshoken then becomes available as part of that booking.

Applications are made in person at the Nakamura Park office by filling in a form. Telephone bookings and provisional holds are not accepted. General applications open on the 1st of the month 3 months before the intended date, first come first served. The counter is open 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office is open every day except the New Year closure, 29 December to 3 January. Fees are revised from time to time, so confirm the current rate with the office before applying.

Without a booking you can still look at the roof and the projecting eave of Nakamura Park Hoshoken from beyond the trees. Filming or photography carried out as a business or for commercial purposes anywhere in the park requires a permit under Nagoya City's urban park ordinance, charged at 1,500 yen per photographer and 17,000 yen per day for video. Ordinary snapshots fall outside that, but the park office will settle any doubt quickly.

The nearest station is Nakamura Koen on the subway Higashiyama Line, about a 10 minute walk north from exit 3. By city bus, get off at the Toyokuni Jinja stop and you are there. The park has a small car park, but it is reserved for people who have booked the paid facilities and needs to be arranged in advance.