Former Yasuyuki Namikawa Residence Kiln

Eighteen Square Metres at the Back of the Compound

The Kiln House of the Former Namikawa Yasuyuki Residence (旧並河靖之邸窯場, Kyū-Namikawa Yasuyuki-tei Kamaba) is a small single-storey timber building in Horiike-cho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, built around 1902 (Meiji 35) and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2001. It projects from the southeast corner of the workshop within the compound now open as the Namikawa Cloisonne Museum of Kyoto.

At roughly 18 square metres, this is the smallest of the three registered buildings on the site, about a quarter the size of the workshop it adjoins and a fraction of the main house. It is also the building where the decisive part of the work happened. Cloisonne is finished by fire: glaze laid between wires becomes enamel only in the kiln, and a firing that runs too hot or cools unevenly ruins weeks of wirework in minutes.

Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927) was appointed an Imperial Household Artist in 1896, one of only two enamellers ever to receive the honour. The national record notes a remodelling of this building in 1911 (Meiji 44).

A Utility Building Given a Careful Face

The kiln house was registered on 12 October 2001, with notification on 29 October, under register number 26-0093 in the thirtieth round. The criterion cited is contribution to the historic landscape of the nation, the same ground used for the workshop. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a facility without which the history of the household cannot be understood.

What makes the building worth a second look is the gap between its function and its finish. A kiln room is a service structure. It could have been a shed. Instead it carries an irimoya hipped-and-gabled roof of sangawara pantiles with a gentle upward curve to the slope, and its lower walls to waist height are clad in yakiita, cedar boarding charred on the surface. Charring hardens the outer layer and improves resistance to rot, insects and fire, and it also gives the wall a matt black that sits well against plaster and tile. The result is a trim little building rather than an outhouse.

The registration system under which it is protected dates from 1996 and covers structures roughly fifty years old or more. It works by notification rather than permission, which leaves owners free to use and adapt buildings within limits. Designation as an Important Cultural Property brings stronger protection and far heavier restrictions. Small ancillary buildings like this one rarely clear the threshold for designation, and before 1996 many were simply lost. The registration scheme exists to catch precisely this category: the modest structure that makes sense only as part of a group.

What Survives Inside

The interior was refitted in Western style at some point after its working life ended, so the kiln itself is no longer the room's centrepiece. Several original features stayed put.

High horizontal windows run along the wall, fitted with board shutters rather than glazing. A kiln room needs to shed heat and fumes, and openings placed near ceiling level do that efficiently while boards can be closed against weather. The ceiling is finished in plaster laid solid, a treatment chosen for fire resistance in buildings where flame is part of the daily routine. Neither the national record nor the museum states the reasoning outright, but the combination is what you would expect around a kiln.

Look at the roof line from the garden side. The slope carries a slight convex rise, a refinement called mukuri, which reads as a swelling rather than the dished sagari curve more common on temple work. On a building this small the effect is subtle and easy to walk past.

The pond a few steps away supplied the water used to grind and polish finished pieces, drawn from the Lake Biwa Canal completed in 1890. Fire and water sat within about ten metres of each other, which is the practical logic behind the whole layout. The garden that holds the pond was designed by Ogawa Jihei VII, known by the studio name Ueji, and is designated a Place of Scenic Beauty by the City of Kyoto.

Seeing It

The kiln house is viewed as part of a museum visit and needs no separate ticket. Opening hours are 10:00 to 16:30 with last entry at 16:00, closed Mondays and Thursdays, shifting to the next day when a public holiday falls on one of those. Long seasonal closures apply: in 2026 the summer break runs 21 July to 14 September, and the winter break generally covers mid-December to early March.

Admission is 1,000 yen for adults, 900 yen for students showing a student card, free for high school students and younger and for holders of a disability certificate. Payment is cash only, with no card or contactless option.

Reach the compound from Higashiyama Station on the Tozai subway line, exit 1, then three minutes east on foot. Buses 201, 202, 203 and 206 stop at Higashiyama Sanjo, about five minutes away. No parking is available, and the lane outside runs one-way from west to east. Photography rules are not posted on the museum website, so check at the reception desk.

Give the visit an hour if you want to look properly at all three buildings and the garden. Heian Shrine, Nanzen-ji and the Okazaki museums are each within a twenty-minute walk.