Suikintei

A Sukiya-Style House by Ogi Rodo

Suikintei (水琴亭) is a sukiya-style house at Iwasaki, Yoshii-machi, Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, built in 1935 at Inokashira in Tokyo as the home of the incense master Yoshida Roko and moved here in 1990, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on August 28, 2001. It was designed by Ogi Rodo, a master of sukiya architecture (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 158 square metres; registration number 10-0078, owned by a social welfare corporation (幹の会).

From Tokyo to Yoshii

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Suikintei consists of a two-storey main house with a hip-and-gable pantiled roof containing a large tea room, and Jiseian, a three-and-three-quarter-mat tea room named by the businessman and tea master Matsunaga Yasuzaemon. Built in Tokyo as an incense master's house, it was later moved to Yoshii.

In 1996 the Environment Agency (now the Ministry of the Environment) chose the suikinkutsu of Suikintei as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan. A suikinkutsu is a buried jar into which water drips to make a sound like a koto; the ministry's guide places it in a garden of some 4,000 tsubo called Suikintei within the grounds of Takasaki Art Junior College and Takasaki Childcare College.

Why It Was Registered

Suikintei was registered as a building that has become a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it is valuable as one of the few surviving works designed by Ogi Rodo, a master of sukiya architecture.

What to Look For

The main house of Suikintei is a two-storey timber building with a hip-and-gable pantiled roof and a large tea room, joined by Jiseian, a small tea room named by Matsunaga Yasuzaemon (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

In the garden, water overflowing from the stone basin drips into a buried jar and resonates, a device that blends into the garden scenery (Ministry of the Environment).

Visiting

The Ministry of the Environment's soundscape guide says the garden of Suikintei is open to the community free of charge daily from 9:00 to 17:00 (closed at New Year), but we could not confirm the current arrangements from official sources; check before visiting. The address is 2229 Iwasaki, Yoshii-machi, Takasaki City.