Bojotei, the Tea House Across the Pond
Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room (福山市福寿会館南茶室, Fukuyama-shi Fukuju Kaikan Minami-chashitsu) is a single-storey timber tea house completed in 1942 in the southern part of the Fukuju Hall garden in Marunouchi, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 23 February 2012.
It faces the main building across the pond, covers 78 square metres, and is roofed in pantiles and cypress bark. It is also called Bojotei, the pavilion for viewing the castle, a name said to have been given by the head of the Omotesenke school of tea. The completion date comes from the city; the national database gives the early Showa period.
Like the west tea house, it was built by the Kyoto sukiya carpenter Usui Kaichiro. Unlike it, Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room stands on its own in the garden, with an outer and an inner Roji, the tea garden path that prepares guests for the ceremony.
Why It Was Registered
It was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to a small three-and-daime room and an 8-mat room set side by side facing the garden, with the preparation area behind, and calls it a refined and open modern tea house by a Kyoto master carpenter.
Small tea rooms tend to turn inward. Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room opens both its small and large rooms to the garden, keeping the rules of the tea room while letting the landscape in, which is the modern sukiya approach in a nutshell.
What to Look For
Four rooms and a pocket alcove
Enter through the southeast door and you find a three-and-daime room with its alcove on the guests' side, an 8-mat room to the west and another 3-mat room to the north, four rooms in all. The 8-mat room has a 9-shaku alcove whose left 3 shaku are enclosed as a fukuro-doko, a pocket alcove, and its sunken hearth is laid out in the standard right-handed arrangement.
A crawl-through gate in the roji
The garden of Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room is split into outer and inner sections, complete with gate, waiting benches and privy. Between them stands a nakakuguri, a wall pierced by a small door modelled on the crawl-in entrance of a tea room; the city credits the idea to the Edo-period tea master Kanamori Sowa. There are two stone basins: a sunken one before the large room and one shaped like an ancient foundation stone at the crawl-in entrance of the small room.
Visiting
Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room is rented out as a separate annex, and when it is booked the roji is closed too. Ask at the office in the main building whether it can be viewed when free, and whether photography is allowed.
You can see the exterior from the garden paths. From the north side of the pond, near the main building's veranda, its low roof sits beyond the water; from the tea house side the view reverses and the main building fills the far bank.
Directions, opening hours and closing days for the estate as a whole are on the Fukuju Hall page.
Q&A
- Why is Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room called Bojotei?
- The name means a pavilion for viewing the castle. It is said to have been given by the head of the Omotesenke school of tea.
- When was Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room built, and by whom?
- The city says it was completed in 1942 by the Kyoto sukiya carpenter Usui Kaichiro. The national database gives the early Showa period.
- Can you enter Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room or its tea garden?
- Not while it is booked. Ask at the office in the main building whether it can be viewed when free.
- What is unusual about the tea garden of Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room?
- A nakakuguri, a small crawl-through door in the wall between the outer and inner roji, an idea the city credits to the tea master Kanamori Sowa.
- How large is Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room?
- It is a single-storey timber building of 78 square metres with four rooms, including a three-and-daime room and an 8-mat room.
Basic Information
| Name | Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room (福山市福寿会館南茶室; Bojotei) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-1-1 Marunouchi, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and adjoining lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2012/2/23 (Heisei 24) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 78 square metres; single-storey timber |
| Owner | Fukuyama City |
| Public Access | Used as a rental room; exterior visible from the garden; ask at the office about the interior |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall South Tea Room
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009219
- Fukuyama City: Fukuju Kaikan South Tea Room (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/site/fukuju/15915.html
- Fukuyama City: Fukuju Kaikan room rental guide (Japanese)
- https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/site/fukuju/163124.html
- Fukuyama Castle Museum: Fukuju Kaikan (Japanese)
- https://fukuyamajo.jp/miru/fukujyu/
- Fukuyama Cultural Properties Navi (Fukuyama City): Fukuyama City Fukuju Hall and five other buildings
- https://fukubun.net/ja/collection/680
Last verified: 2026.09.26
