A farmhouse tea room in the Hakone hills
Hakuun-do, the “White Cloud Cave,” is the oldest of the five thatched buildings that make up the Hakuundo Chaen tea garden on the rocky slope of Hakone Gora Park. It reads as a country cottage rather than a formal teahouse, and that was the point. Masuda Takashi, the industrialist who built the Mitsui trading house and took the tea name Don’o, laid out this garden in the early Taisho years, around 1916, among the great boulders of Gora.
The building is small: a single storey of about 33 square metres under a hipped, thatched roof (kayabuki). Its plan centres on a six-mat main room fitted with a temae-za, the host’s serving position, alongside a four-mat anteroom and a mizuya where utensils are washed and readied.
Why it is registered
Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs entered Hakuun-do on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 20 November 2001, under the criterion for works that serve as a model of design. Registration (toroku) recognises buildings worth preserving; it is a distinct, lighter status than the Important Cultural Property (juyo bunkazai) designation given to older monuments.
The room breaks a rule. Instead of the small portable brazier usual in a chashitsu, Don’o cut an irori, a sunken floor hearth of the kind found in farmhouses, into the main room. Salvaged old timber was used across the interior and the exterior, so the surfaces read as weathered and unpolished. The effect is closer to a mountain dwelling than to the refined tea rooms of Kyoto, which is exactly the rustic mood Don’o was chasing.
What to look for on a visit
Hakuun-do is the room where visitors today sit for a bowl of matcha, prepared by a teacher who will explain the etiquette to first-timers. Entry is through Hakone Gora Park, and the tea is served in the morning and early afternoon.
The garden changed hands twice after Don’o. Matsunaga Yasuzaemon, the power-industry magnate known by the tea name Jian, received it in 1940 and is said to have reset the alcove post (tokobashira) using thousand-year-old timber salvaged from Taima-dera in Nara. Sit inside and the low thatched ceiling, the dark old wood and the hearth make the point of the whole garden legible in a single room.
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Q&A
- How old is Hakuun-do?
- It dates to around 1916 (Taisho 5), which makes it the earliest of the five buildings in the garden.
- Can I actually have tea inside?
- Yes. A matcha-and-sweet experience is offered inside the garden for a small fee on top of Hakone Gora Park admission; staff guide newcomers through the manners.
- What is the sunken hearth I keep reading about?
- It is an irori, a hearth set into the floor as in a farmhouse. Cutting one into a tea room was unusual and signals the deliberately rustic character Masuda Don’o wanted.
- Is this a National Treasure?
- No. It is a registered Tangible Cultural Property, a preservation status lighter than Important Cultural Property or National Treasure, entered on the register in 2001.
Basic Information
| Name | Hakuundo Chaen Hakuundo (白雲洞茶苑白雲洞) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1300-69 Gora, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa (inside Hakone Gora Park) |
| Status | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building); register no. 14-0061 |
| Registered | 20 November 2001 (gazetted 4 December 2001) |
| Date | About 1916 (Taisho 5) |
| Structure | One-storey timber, thatched (kayabuki) roof; floor area about 33 sq m |
| Owner | Odakyu Hakone Co., Ltd. |
| Access | About 5 min on foot from Gora Station; matcha served roughly 10:00-16:00 |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁） — 白雲洞茶苑白雲洞
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002529
- 箱根強羅公園 — 白雲洞茶苑
- https://www.hakonenavi.jp/gorapark/map/tea/
- 箱根強羅公園 — 登録有形文化財でお抽茶を
- https://www.hakonenavi.jp/gorapark/info/3698/
Last verified: 2026.07.09