The wing at the end of the corridor
Kameya Shoji (Former Iijima Family Residence) Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom is a single-storey timber wing of about 1935 at 1-78 Raidencho in Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004. It holds 2 rooms under a copper roof, with a combined building area of 55 square meters.
The wing closes the end of a corridor running north from the main house. On the east side is the former dining room, 3 and a half ken by 3 ken, its ridge lying north to south under a roof hipped at one end only. On the west side is the former bathroom, 3 ken by 2 ken, its ridge lying east to west under a fully hipped yosemune-zukuri roof. 2 rooms, 2 ridge directions, 2 roof forms, joined at a corner.
Outside, both are clad in horizontal weatherboarding, the shitami-itabari finish. That matters, because the main building at the front of the same property is faced in tile and marble. Walk from the street to the back of this house and the surface changes from masonry effect to painted timber.
Why the dining and bathing wing was registered
Registration number 08-0126 was entered on 9 June 2004 under the criterion for structures that contribute to the historic character of the national landscape, the same criterion and the same day as the main house, the storehouse and the brick warehouse across the road.
What this particular building adds to the set is evidence of how the family actually lived. A dining room and a bathroom placed together at the end of a corridor, separate from the main block, is a plan decision with consequences: meals and bathing were treated as a zone of their own, reached deliberately rather than passed through. The interior finishes recorded for it are domestic rather than ceremonial, which points the same way.
There is also a preservation argument. Service rooms are the first parts of a house to be modernised, and bathrooms in particular are usually replaced many times over a long life. Kameya Shoji (Former Iijima Family Residence) Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom survived with enough of its original character intact to be described in the national register by its finishes, which for a wing of this kind is not the normal outcome.
Two interior details worth knowing about
The first is glass. The national register records stained glass in the windows of the former dining room. In a provincial house of 1935 that is a considered purchase, and it tells you which room the family wanted coloured light in. Not the entrance hall, not a reception room: the room where they ate.
The second is a ceiling. The former bathroom retains a saobuchi-tenjo, a ceiling of boards carried on slender exposed battens, and the register describes this one as umbrella-shaped, meaning the battens rise from the walls toward a centre rather than running flat and parallel. A flat version of this ceiling is ordinary in Japanese rooms. Raising it into a shallow cone over a bathroom is not, and it suggests someone thought about steam, height and the look of the room above the bather's head.
Neither detail can be seen from outside. They are worth knowing about anyway, because they explain why a 55-square-meter service wing is on the national register at all.
Access to Kameya Shoji (Former Iijima Family Residence) Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom
This building is not open. It stands at the back of a plot owned and used by Kameya Shoji Co., Ltd., behind the main building and reached only through the private grounds, so there is no admission, no opening time and no fee, and the stained glass and ceiling described above are not viewable by visitors.
From the prefectural Higashi-Noda Koga road you may catch the low copper roofs of the wing over the boundary, depending on the angle, but the main building blocks most of the view. Photography from the public road is not restricted; entering the site is not permitted. Neither Koga City nor Ibaraki Prefecture advertises any interior opening for this property.
The site lies about 600 meters north of the east exit of Koga Station on the JR Utsunomiya Line, some 8 minutes on foot. For questions about the building, contact the Cultural Promotion Division of Koga City on 0280-22-5111. This information was checked in September 2026.
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Q&A
- Can visitors see the stained glass in Kameya Shoji (Former Iijima Family Residence) Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom?
- No. The wing stands within the private grounds of Kameya Shoji Co., Ltd. and is not open, so the stained glass recorded in the former dining room windows cannot be viewed by visitors.
- What rooms make up Kameya Shoji Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom?
- 2 rooms. The former dining room on the east measures 3 and a half ken by 3 ken; the former bathroom on the west measures 3 ken by 2 ken. Together they cover 55 square meters.
- What is the umbrella-shaped ceiling in Kameya Shoji Main Building Former Bathroom?
- It is a saobuchi-tenjo, a boarded ceiling carried on slender exposed battens, formed here as a shallow cone rising toward the centre rather than laid flat.
- When was Kameya Shoji Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom registered?
- On 9 June 2004, as registration number 08-0126, on the same day as the main building, the storehouse and the former silk mill brick warehouse nearby.
- How do I reach the site of Kameya Shoji Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom?
- Take the east exit of Koga Station and walk north about 600 meters, roughly 8 minutes. The wing is at the rear of the same plot as the main building on the prefectural road.
Basic Information
| Name | Kameya Shoji (Former Iijima Family Residence) Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-78 Raidencho, Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2004 (Heisei 16) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 55 square meters; former dining room 3 and a half ken by 3 ken, former bathroom 3 ken by 2 ken |
| Owner | Kameya Shoji Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not open; stands within private grounds and is largely hidden from the road |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Kameya Shoji (Former Iijima Family Residence) Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00004112
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties of Ibaraki: Kameya Shoji Main Building Former Dining Room and Bathroom
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6286/
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties of Ibaraki: Kameya Shoji Main Building
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6280/
- Koga City: Registered and designated cultural properties, structures
- https://www.city.ibaraki-koga.lg.jp/soshiki/bunka/15/siteitourokubunnkazai/kogabunkazaikennzoubutu/index.html
Last verified: 2026.09.05