What Is the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room?
The Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum (Former Kawai Kanjiro Residence) Small Tea Room (河井寬次郎記念館（旧河井寬次郎邸）小間, koma) is a tiny single-storey timber building in the form of a tea room, built in 1937 in the courtyard of Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum in Kaneicho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2000.
It covers 11 m² under a tiled roof and contains a two-mat room with a ceiling of slender reeds or slats laid side by side, plus an earth-floored area (Doma) with a well. A preparation room (mizuya) once stood alongside but has been removed. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records that it dates from the same time as the main house.
Why the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room Was Registered
The Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room was registered as a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its use of thick, farmhouse-style timbers in a Chashitsu tea room.
A koma, a tea room of four and a half mats or less, is usually built from carefully chosen slender members. Here Kawai used heavy timber of the kind found in country houses. And tea, it is said, was never made in this room. It served Kawai as a place to sit and think: a tea-room form put to the use of one man's solitude.
What to Look For
Inside the two-mat room, look up. The slatted ceiling lets light and shadow through and lifts a room that is low and narrow. Against it, the thick posts and beams stand out sharply, and the room feels less cramped than its size suggests.
Down in the earth-floored area of the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room is the well. The preparation room has gone, but the well shows that the building was planned with its own water.
Visiting the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room
The Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room stands in the courtyard on the way from the main house to the pottery studio. A 2019 magazine visit reported that visitors could step inside, but the museum gives no official guidance on this (as of October 2026). If you do go in, there are only two mats, so take turns and keep quiet.
Opening hours, admission and directions are on the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum page.
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Q&A
- When was the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room built?
- By tradition in 1937, at the same time as the main house. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 28, 2000.
- Is the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room a tea room?
- It takes the form of one, but tea was reportedly never made there. Kawai used it as a place for thinking.
- How big is the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room?
- A two-mat room with a slatted ceiling and an earth-floored area with a well, with a building area of 11 m².
- What makes the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room unusual?
- It uses thick, farmhouse-style timbers instead of the slender members usual in tea rooms. Its preparation room has been removed.
- Can I go inside the Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum Small Tea Room?
- A 2019 magazine visit said visitors could enter, but there is no official guidance. Ask at the reception desk.
Basic Information
| Name | Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum (Former Kawai Kanjiro Residence) Small Tea Room |
|---|---|
| Location | 569 Kaneicho, Higashiiru Yamato-oji, Umamachi-dori, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, and other locations |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered April 28, 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber building, building area 11 m² |
| Owner | Unknown (not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Open to the public (as Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Small Tea Room
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001717
- Cultural Heritage Online: Small Tea Room
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/114797
- Wa-Raku Web: Visit Report on Kawai Kanjiro Memorial Museum (2019, Japanese)
- https://intojapanwaraku.com/rock/craft-rock/28961/2/
Last verified: 2026.10.15
