Yoneda Family Residence Shinden Pavilion

A South-Facing Pavilion at the Heart of the Estate

The Yoneda Family Residence Shinden Pavilion (米田家住宅寝殿, Yoneda-ke Jūtaku Shinden) is a single-storey wooden pavilion built in 1941 (Showa 16) near the centre of the Yoneda estate in Uyama, Sumoto City, Hyogo Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004.

It faces south and is joined to the main house by a covered corridor. The roof is hip-and-gable (irimoya-zukuri) in sangawara pan tiles, and the building covers 50 square metres, less than half the size of the main house or the guest hall.

Shinden literally means "sleeping hall." In the Heian period it named the principal hall of an aristocrat's mansion. We found no record of how the Yoneda family used this one. Its position, linked to the main house and facing south in the middle of the grounds, suggests private family rooms, but that is only an inference.

Why It Was Registered

The Yoneda Family Residence Shinden Pavilion was registered on 2 March 2004, in the 41st round of national registrations, as number 28-0143, under the criterion of serving as a model of good design.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to modern design ideas within a well-made traditional building. The pavilion pairs tile with cypress bark on its roofs, and fits its walls with a modern mix of board doors, screen doors and glass doors.

What to Look For

Tile and cypress bark

The main roof and the lean-tos (geya) around it are tiled, but the eave canopies (hisashi) are finished in hiwadabuki, layered cypress bark long used on shrines, temples and high-status buildings. The soft edge of the bark sits in front of the harder line of the tiles, a contrast of materials on one small building.

Openings in three tiers

Around the walls, the openings are arranged in three tiers, upper, middle and lower, fitted with board doors, screen doors and glass doors. The likely idea was to shut out rain and sun with boards, let in light through glass and draw in breezes through screens. It reworks the old Japanese habit of changing a room with the seasons, using the glass and screens of the 20th century.

Turned to face the sun

The main house faces west; the Yoneda Family Residence Shinden Pavilion faces south. The corridor between them joins two buildings set at right angles, placing a south-facing room at the centre of the estate.

Visiting

The shinden is part of a private home. As of October 2026 we found no announcement of interior viewings or tours, and the grounds are closed. Because it stands near the middle of the estate, it is probably hard to see from outside, though we have not checked on site.

Exterior photographs are available in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database of national cultural properties.