Yoneda Family Residence Guest Hall

A 2-Storey Hall for Guests

The Yoneda Family Residence Guest Hall (米田家住宅客殿, Yoneda-ke Jūtaku Kyakuden) is a 2-storey wooden guest hall built in 1941 (Showa 16) in Uyama, Sumoto City, Hyogo Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004.

It stands north of the shinden pavilion at the centre of the Yoneda estate and rises a full 2 storeys, the upper floor as large as the lower. The roof is hip-and-gable (irimoya-zukuri) in sangawara pan tiles. At 124 square metres it ties with the main house as the largest building on the estate. A corridor connects it to the bathhouse on its east side.

Each floor holds an 8-mat reception room (zashiki) with a 6-mat anteroom. As the name kyakuden, "guest hall," suggests, this was most likely where visitors were entertained, and the matching suites on two floors would have allowed two parties to be received separately.

Why It Was Registered

The Yoneda Family Residence Guest Hall was registered on 2 March 2004, in the 41st round of national registrations, as number 28-0144, under the criterion of serving as a model of good design.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the building fundamentally delicate and sukiya in manner (sukiya-zukuri), yet notes distinctive touches at key points: an alcove and shelves made of prized woods, a coffered ceiling latticed in bamboo, and fan-pattern rafters under the upper-floor eaves. The designer did not simply follow the pattern book; he left a personal stamp in material and form.

What to Look For

Alcove and shelves of prized wood

The tokonoma alcove and display shelves are made from meiboku, prized timbers chosen for their grain or shape. In sukiya rooms these pieces are the focal point. The same alcove-and-shelf arrangement reappears in the tea room of the bathhouse next door.

A bamboo coffered ceiling

The ceiling is a gō-tenjō, a coffered grid usually reserved for formal rooms, but here the grid is made of bamboo. The material takes the weight out of a formal form and keeps the room light.

Fan rafters on the upper eaves

Under the upper-floor eaves, the rafters fan out like the ribs of a folding fan, a technique called ōgidaruki, with thin laths nailed across them. Fan rafters are more often seen at the corners of temple roofs, and finding them on the upper floor of a house is a deliberate flourish.

Visiting

The Yoneda Family Residence Guest Hall is part of a private home. As of October 2026 we found no announcement of interior viewings or tours, so the rooms and ceilings cannot be seen in person. It stands toward the north of the estate, and we could not confirm whether its upper eaves are visible from outside the property.

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