Yoneda Family Residence Bathhouse

A Bathhouse with a Tea Room

The Yoneda Family Residence Bathhouse (米田家住宅湯殿, Yoneda-ke Jūtaku Yudono) is a single-storey wooden bathhouse built in 1941 (Showa 16) east of the guest hall on the Yoneda estate in Uyama, Sumoto City, Hyogo Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004.

A covered corridor connects it to the guest hall. The roof is a simple gable (kirizuma-zukuri) in sangawara pan tiles, with an eave canopy carried on rafters made from round logs. The building covers 42 square metres.

Inside, three rooms run in a single line: from the east, a bathroom, a dressing room and a tea room of four and a half mats (chashitsu). The tea room sits at the west end, the end nearest the guest hall.

Why It Was Registered

The Yoneda Family Residence Bathhouse was registered on 2 March 2004, in the 41st round of national registrations, as number 28-0145, under the criterion of serving as a model of good design.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as lightly and nimbly finished in the sukiya manner (sukiya-zukuri). Putting a practical room for bathing and a room for the tea ceremony under one roof, and giving both the same airy treatment, is what makes the building distinctive.

What to Look For

Log rafters under the eaves

The canopy rafters are round, peeled logs rather than squared timbers. Exposing the natural shape of the wood is a common sukiya device, and it softens the crisp line of the gable roof.

Three rooms in a row

Bath, dressing room and tea room line up from east to west. The bath is at the far east and the tea room at the far west, beside the corridor to the guest hall, with the dressing room keeping the two apart.

A matching alcove, an unusual post

The tokonoma and shelves in the tea room follow the same arrangement as those in the guest hall. The alcove post (tokobashira), however, is a kiboku, a piece of oddly shaped wood with twists or burls, a playful touch typical of tea rooms. The tea room of the Yoneda Family Residence Bathhouse and the reception rooms of the guest hall read as a matched pair.

Visiting

The bathhouse is part of a private home. As of October 2026 we found no announcement of interior viewings or tours, so the tea room cannot be seen. It stands east of the guest hall toward the north of the estate, and we could not confirm whether it is visible from outside the property.

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