Nakamura Park Memorial Hall

A Reception House Built for Kato Kiyomasa's Anniversary

The Nakamura Park Memorial Hall (中村公園記念館) is a reception house built in 1910 in Nakamura Park, Nakamura-cho, Nakamura Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017, under registration number 23-0480.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 160 square metres, renovated several times between the Taisho period and 2016. According to Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture built it to mark the 300th anniversary of Kato Kiyomasa's death, and in the same year it received the Crown Prince, later Emperor Taisho, when he visited the park.

Why It Was Registered

The Memorial Hall was registered in 2017 as a model of design. According to the Agency, it is a single-storey timber building on an L-shaped plan with a carriage porch under a cusped gable at the centre of the front and pent roofs all round. On the west side three tatami rooms in a row, built of carefully chosen timber with formal alcove fittings and high ceilings, still convey its dignity as a reception house.

Nagoya City describes it as a formal shoin-style building notable for its cusped-gable entrance and rare as a Meiji public timber building. It served as a wedding hall from 1954 to 1967 and then as a community hall, and after seismic strengthening in fiscal 2015 is again used as a community hall.

What to Look For

Look at the carriage porch under its cusped gable at the centre of the front, the face of a building that welcomed the Crown Prince.

The three tatami rooms on the west side use fine timber and have formal alcove fittings and high ceilings (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Nagoya City also certified the hall as a local architectural asset in 2013.

Using the Hall

According to Nakamura Park, the Memorial Hall is a paid park facility available by advance booking; administrative and park use takes priority, so check availability by telephone. Booking, access and contact details are on the Nakamura Park page.