Yabashi Family Residence Tea House

An Early Meiji Tea House off the Shoin

The Yabashi Family Residence Tea House (矢橋家住宅茶室, Yabashi-ke Jūtaku Chashitsu) is a small tea building of around 1868, the start of the Meiji era, on the Yabashi estate beside the old Nakasendō highway in Akasaka, Ogaki City, Gifu Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1997.

It is attached to the southeast corner of the Shoin reception wing and holds a Chashitsu, the room where tea is served, together with a Mizuya, the preparation room where utensils are kept and washed. The building is timber, single-storey and tile-roofed, with a footprint of 32 square metres. Of the estate's 8 buildings, it and the West Storehouse are the latest additions.

Adding a tea room to the Shoin meant that hospitality at the Yabashi house could run without a break from formal reception to a tea gathering. Built some years after the Kaei-era Shoin, the Yabashi Family Residence Tea House shows the family still refining the private side of the estate as the Edo period gave way to Meiji.

Knotted Posts and Deep Eaves

The Tea House was registered as a model of its type. The Agency for Cultural Affairs praises its light, elegant design, achieved with slender posts that keep their knots and with deeply projecting eaves.

Showing knotted timber is a deliberate tea-house choice. Formal reception rooms usually call for clear, knot-free wood; a tea room instead uses timber that keeps the character of the tree, so the building feels light and unforced. Deep eaves soften the light that reaches the room, which suits the quiet of a tea gathering.

The Agency adds that large estates with roots in the Edo period often included a stylish tea room, and calls this one a fine example. Part of the value of the Yabashi Family Residence Tea House is that the estate keeps the full sequence of hospitality spaces: Main House, Shoin and tea room.

Where the Tea House Sits

The Yabashi Family Residence Tea House lies southeast of the Shoin, deep inside the property. It is screened by the Main House, the Front Gate and the boundary walls, and cannot be seen from the old Nakasendō.

The knotted posts and deep eaves the Agency describes are details you would only see from within the grounds. For visitors on the street, the useful thing to know is simply that a tea house stands behind the gate, paired with the Shoin as the estate's space for guests.

Visiting

The Tea House is not open to the public, and neither its interior nor its exterior can be viewed. From the road you can see only the fronts of the Main House, the Front Gate and the Retirement House.

Please do not look through the gate or enter the grounds. There is no admission charge or booking system.