Aoki Ranjado Annex

About the Aoki Ranjado Annex

The Aoki Ranjado Annex (青木蘭麝堂離れ, Aoki Ranjadō Hanare) is a two-storey timber garden room built in 1918 just west of the new zashiki at Aoki Ranjado in Wakisanga-cho, Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2020. Its small upstairs room looks down over the garden to the southwest.

A hanare is an annex set apart from the main living quarters, usually for guests or quiet use. With a footprint of only 15 square meters, the Aoki Ranjado Annex is the smallest of the three registered buildings on the estate, yet it rises to two storeys and gives the upper floor to a tatami room. Its southeast corner joins the north side of the main house, so it reads as an extension one climbs up into rather than a separate cottage.

Why the Aoki Ranjado Annex Was Registered

The Aoki Ranjado Annex became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 3 April 2020, under number 18-0200, for its contribution to the historic landscape.

The national description singles out its role in framing the courtyard in the northwest corner of the estate. Its two-storey form under a hipped-and-gabled roof, rising at the back of the house, is part of the view around that courtyard. Where the new zashiki takes in the garden from ground level, the Aoki Ranjado Annex was built to see it from a step higher.

What to Look for at the Aoki Ranjado Annex

The roof of the Aoki Ranjado Annex is in the Irimoya-zukuri hipped-and-gabled form, covered in metal sheet. The walls are finished in yellow-tinted plaster, with some Shitami-itabari clapboarding. Since the other buildings on the estate are mostly in white Shikkui, the yellow walls stand out.

Upstairs there are two rooms: a three-mat anteroom and a four-and-a-half-mat zashiki with a Tokonoma alcove. Passing through an anteroom before entering gives the little suite something of the formality of a tea room. A railing runs along the window side of the zashiki, which opens toward the garden to the southwest.

Public sources do not say how the ground floor is used, and little else is known about the interior.

Visiting the Aoki Ranjado Annex

The Aoki Ranjado Annex stands at the back of the family home, west of the new zashiki. The family does not publish whether it or its upstairs room can be viewed. If you would like to see it or take photographs, call Aoki Ranjado before your visit. Directions are on the Aoki Ranjado page.