Sozanso

A Showcase of Kiso Cypress from a 1937 Exposition

The Sozanso (蘇山荘) is a building of Kiso timber built as the Japanese wing of an exposition guest house of 1937 in Tokugawacho, Higashi Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on October 7, 2014 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 147 square metres, moved here in 1937 and altered in 2004; registration number 23-0408.

A Guest House Showcasing Kiso Timber

Sozanso was built as the Japanese wing of the guest house of the Nagoya Pan-Pacific Peace Exposition to promote Kiso timber, and was moved here after the exposition closed (Agency for Cultural Affairs). An eight-mat room lies south of the entrance with its carriage porch, a kitchen and service rooms to the north, and three guest rooms at the back to the west.

Fine Kiso timbers such as hinoki cypress and sawara are used lavishly, setting off the interior design (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered it as a model of design.

What to Look For

Look for the interior built lavishly of Kiso hinoki and sawara (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

It is owned by Nagoya City (Agency for Cultural Affairs). According to the Aichi Prefecture tourism site, Tokugawaen is open from 9:30 to 17:30 (last entry 17:00), closed on Mondays (open on public holidays) and from December 29 to January 1; admission is 300 yen for adults and free for junior high school students and younger; tel. 052-935-8988. The six registered structures are introduced together on the Tokugawaen page.