Shimanouchi Yukiko Family Residence Bathhouse

What the Shimanouchi Yukiko Family Residence Bathhouse Is

The Shimanouchi Yukiko Family Residence Bathhouse (島内章子家住宅風呂) is a single-storey reinforced concrete bathhouse of 1935 in Kamioka, Noichi-cho, Konan City, Kochi Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 June 2002.

It stands north of the main house, built against the east side of the timber side annex. The plan measures 2.2 by 4 metres, a building area of 8.8 square metres, making it the smallest of the seven registered structures.

Inside, the Shimanouchi Yukiko Family Residence Bathhouse is divided into two rooms, north and south, with the bath in the northern room. It has a flat Flat roof roof.

Why It Was Registered

The Bathhouse was registered as a model of form and design.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs counts it among the early surviving examples of reinforced concrete used in houses in Kochi. On an estate otherwise built of timber and tile, a concrete bathroom in 1935 was a new departure, and that is the core of its significance.

It was also a practical choice: concrete neither burns nor rots, which suits a room that is always wet. The family placed it right against the annex, close to daily life.

What to Look For

Over the bath itself, the edge of the roof is raised into a Parapet trimmed with decoration. Instead of simply stopping the flat roof, the builders gave the little box a defined outline.

That decoration links it to the stone wall. At the wall's east end, which doubles as the balustrade of the steps up to the gate, there is an unusual spiral motif, and the official description notes decoration shared with the Shimanouchi Yukiko Family Residence Bathhouse. Two structures of the same year, one at the front and one deep inside, carry the same design language.

Directly to the west stands the late-Edo timber side annex. A tiled wooden building and a flat-roofed concrete box sharing a wall is a pairing you will not easily find elsewhere.

Visiting

The Shimanouchi Yukiko Family Residence Bathhouse belongs to a private home and is not open. Neither the Kochi Prefecture nor the Konan City lists give any visiting information (checked 27 September 2026).

It sits in the middle of the property, hidden from the southern road by the main house, and it is not known whether it can be seen from outside. The related spiral decoration may be visible at the east end of the stone wall on the road side.