About the Former Onogi Family Residence
The Former Onogi Family Residence (旧大野木家住宅, Kyū Ōnogi-ke Jūtaku) is a private estate in Takehana Donomae-cho, Yamashina Ward, Kyoto City, built between about 1936 and 1941, and its 8 structures (a main house, a middle gate and wall, a storage shed, a small Goma hall and 4 storehouses) were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan on July 25, 2011. From 2003 the estate operated as a wedding venue and restaurant called Kyoto Rakuto Geihinkan (京都洛東迎賓館), and many people in Kyoto still know it by that name.
The house was built for Onogi Hidejiro, a Yamashina textile manufacturer who entered the House of Councillors after the war and served as a minister of state in Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru's cabinet. Kyoto City records that the residence doubled as a place to receive official guests, which is where the later name "Geihinkan", meaning guest house, came from.
The 8 registration numbers, 26-0365 through 26-0372, run without a break, and every one of them was registered under the same criterion: the building contributes to the historic landscape of the country. Kyoto City has also selected and certified the estate under its own scheme for buildings and gardens that give the city its character, describing it as a large, high-quality house of the early Showa era.
How the Estate Took Shape
According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the earliest building on the Former Onogi Family Residence site is the north storehouse, dated to about 1936. The main house followed in 1939. An ink inscription and a ritual gohei wand found on the ridge beam record that the frame was raised that year under the master carpenter Kanamori Mitsugu.
The east and west storehouses also date from 1939, and the storage shed and the Goma hall from around the same time. The middle storehouse, finished in 1941, was the last to be added, while the middle gate and wall are dated only to the early Showa period. In other words, the whole compound was laid out within a few years on either side of the main house.
The family gave up the textile business in 1987. In 2003 the house opened to paying guests as a venue for weddings and dinners, and that business closed at the end of September 2024.
Layout of the Compound
The Former Onogi Family Residence occupies a lot on the east side of a street, with the main house standing in the middle and facing south. North of the house is a garden with a stream running east to west. To the south, a tiled wall with a gate in its center closes off the front. The wall has two arms: one runs along the south side of the site, and a garden wall branches north from its midpoint to enclose the garden in front of the formal rooms. Together they stretch for 60 meters.
The storage shed stands southeast of the main house, facing the path to the entrance. The storehouses are gathered toward the west. The east storehouse sits northwest of the reception rooms, the west storehouse stands beside it, and the tiny Goma hall is wedged between their walls. South of the west storehouse comes the north storehouse, and south of that the middle storehouse. The official lot numbers split accordingly: 5-1 for the east and west storehouses and the Goma hall, 5-3 for the other five.
A castle-like main house, a gate in the light sukiya manner, a line of white storehouses and a shed that doubled as a waiting bench all sit inside a single wall. The front, where guests were received, is kept clearly apart from the rear, where the family stored its goods and kept its private place of worship.
Visiting the Former Onogi Family Residence
The Former Onogi Family Residence is owned by Rakuto Industry Co., Ltd., and as of September 2026 no public opening has been announced. Since the wedding and restaurant business ended in September 2024 the gates have stayed closed, so visitors cannot enter the grounds or see inside any of the buildings. Only the exterior can be seen, from the surrounding streets.
The nearest stations are Yamashina, on the JR Biwako Line and the Kyoto Municipal Subway Tozai Line, and Keihan Yamashina on the Keihan Keishin Line. The estate lies about 550 meters south of the stations in a straight line, roughly a 10-minute walk through a residential district. Yamashina is one stop from Kyoto Station on the JR Biwako Line. There is no parking for visitors.
The owner has not announced plans for the building's future use. This page will be updated if the estate reopens.
References
- Former Onogi Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008716
- Former Onogi Family Residence Storage Shed (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008717
- Former Onogi Family Residence East Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008718
- Former Onogi Family Residence West Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008719
- Former Onogi Family Residence Goma Hall (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008720
- Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008721
- Former Onogi Family Residence Middle Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008722
- Former Onogi Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008723
- Kyoto Rakuto Geihinkan (Former Onogi Residence), Kyoto City Buildings and Gardens That Color Kyoto
- https://kyoto-irodoru.city.kyoto.lg.jp/yamashina/kyotorakutogeihinkan-n.html
- National Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, Yamashina Ward (Kyoto City Cultural Properties Protection Division)
- https://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/bunshi/page/0000113281.html
Last verified: 2026.09.28
Basic Information
| Name | Former Onogi Family Residence |
|---|---|
| Location | 5-3 Takehanadonomaecho, Yamashina Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture |
| Owner | Rakuto Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (8) |
| Coordinates | 34.98804, 135.81815 |
