An Eighty-Mat Hall Rebuilt After the Earthquake
Walk past the front gate of Nishimuraya Honkan, one of the oldest inns in the Kinosaki hot-spring town, and a tall wooden structure rises just inside the entrance. This is the Ōhiroma-tō, the Large Hall Building. Its second floor holds a single room measured at eighty tatami mats, a space built for banquets, weddings, and the kind of gathering that fills a room with sound.
The building belongs to the early Shōwa period. In May 1925 the North Tajima Earthquake leveled much of Kinosaki, and Nishimuraya's main buildings burned in the fires that followed. Reconstruction began the next year, and the Large Hall Building took shape during the two decades that followed, with later work carried out in the mid-Shōwa years and a renovation in 1991. It stands today at the same address the family has occupied for generations, on Yushima in Kinosaki-chō, Toyooka City, Hyōgo Prefecture.
Why It Earned Cultural Property Status
On 17 November 2015, the Large Hall Building was entered on Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties, registration number 28-0621. The criterion applied to it recognizes structures that contribute to the historic character of a place. Along the same lot, two companion structures received the same protection on the same day: the Hirata Wing and the Gate and Wall.
What makes the hall worth study is the way its builders combined two traditions. The roof rests on a Western-style truss, a technique that had entered Japanese carpentry only recently, and that truss allowed the wide, column-free span the eighty-mat room requires. Beneath it, the ceiling follows an entirely Japanese logic. The carpenters raised the perimeter and coffered the surface, a treatment reserved for rooms of the highest rank. A building of the reconstruction era, it shows how craftsmen of the 1920s and 1930s reached for new structural methods without letting go of older decorative ones.
What to Look For
From the street on the south side, the building presents the gabled end of an irimoya roof, a composed and quiet face turned toward the passing lane. Along the west elevation, a row of windows is ringed by a small eave and a high railing, details that soften the wall and give the exterior its settled look.
The reward waits upstairs. The eighty-mat hall was made to impress. A large decorative alcove arrangement occupies the south side, while a stage is set into the north wall, so the room can host both a formal seat of honor and a performance. Stand at the center and look up: the coffered, raised ceiling reads as a grid of shadow and timber, the mark of a room meant for celebration rather than sleep.
Because the building is part of a working inn, access follows the rhythm of a stay. Guests who book the inn move through these spaces as part of their visit, and the hall is used for events rather than kept as a museum piece. Anyone hoping to see the interior should ask the inn directly about current arrangements.
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Q&A
- How large is the great hall, and what was it used for?
- The second-floor room measures eighty tatami mats. It was built for banquets and large gatherings, with a decorative alcove on the south and a stage on the north.
- Why does the roof use a Western truss?
- A Western-style truss carries a wide span without interior columns, which let the builders open up the full eighty-mat floor. The Japanese coffered ceiling was then fitted beneath it.
- When was it registered, and under what category?
- It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 17 November 2015, number 28-0621, under the criterion for structures that contribute to a region's historic landscape.
- Is the earthquake really part of this building's story?
- Yes. The 1925 North Tajima Earthquake destroyed the earlier inn, and rebuilding began in 1926. The Large Hall Building dates from that reconstruction period.
- Can visitors go inside?
- The building is part of an operating inn, so the interior is seen mainly by guests and during events. Ask Nishimuraya Honkan about current viewing options before you plan a visit.
Basic Information
| Name | Nishimuraya Honkan Ōhiroma-tō (Large Hall Building) |
|---|---|
| Location | 469 Yushima Aza Gosho, Kinosaki-chō, Toyooka City, Hyōgo Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure); registration no. 28-0621 |
| Registered | 17 November 2015 |
| Count | 1 building |
| Structure | Wood, two storeys, tile roof; building area about 322 m² |
| Date | Early Shōwa (1926–1945); later work in mid-Shōwa, renovated 1991 |
| Owner | Life Nishimuraya Co., Ltd. |
| Access | About 15 minutes on foot from Kinosaki-onsen Station (JR San'in Line) |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties — Nishimuraya Honkan Ōhiroma-tō
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010851
- Nishimuraya Honkan Official Site
- https://www.nishimuraya.ne.jp/honkan/
- Nishimuraya (Kinosaki Onsen) — Wikipedia
- https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/西村屋_(城崎温泉)
Last verified: 2026.07.11