Kitamura Museum of Art Shikunshien Main House

A Collector's House Rebuilt by Yoshida Isoya

Kitamura Museum of Art Shikunshien Main House (北村美術館四君子苑主屋, Shikunshi-en Omoya) is the former residence of the businessman and tea collector Kitamura Kinjiro at Shikunshien in Kajii-cho, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City; designed by the architect Yoshida Isoya and built in 1963, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2020.

Structurally it is mostly reinforced concrete: a single-storey building with a partial 2-storey section and a partial basement, joined to a single-storey timber wing. The roof is tiled and the building area is 205 square metres.

That makes Kitamura Museum of Art Shikunshien Main House the odd one out at Shikunshien. The other 4 registered buildings are wartime timber sukiya work by the carpenter Kitamura Sutejiro. According to the museum, Yoshida rebuilt the main house in 1963 as a work of modern sukiya. Literature cited in the National Diet Library's collaborative reference database explains why: the earlier house had been requisitioned by the Allied occupation forces, and once it was returned Kitamura had it pulled down and asked Yoshida, a friend from the world of nagauta music, for a new one.

Why It Was Registered

Kitamura Museum of Art Shikunshien Main House was registered on 3 April 2020 as number 26-0595, under the criterion for buildings that serve as a model of design. It joined the 4 buildings registered in 2001, 19 years later.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a masterpiece of the modern sukiya house by Yoshida Isoya. Yoshida is known for rethinking sukiya design for modern construction and modern living, and the agency's point is that here a crisp, modernist exterior absorbs Japanese elements without strain.

What to Look For

The plan is organised around the garden. Japanese-style rooms line the garden side, a Western-style living room lies to the north, and a tea room sits on the 2nd floor. Tatami rooms for looking out, a Western room for daily life: the split feels natural rather than forced.

Inside, the first thing you notice is how flat the ceilings are. Lighting is built into them rather than hung from them. Shoji screens rise the full height of the room, so wall and window become one luminous plane from floor to ceiling. A traditional Zashiki breaks the view with lintels and small wall panels; this house does not.

Compare it with Kitamura Sutejiro's 4 buildings and the contrast sharpens. Where the wartime sukiya puts logs and bamboo in front of you, Kitamura Museum of Art Shikunshien Main House creates a Japanese atmosphere by editing planes and lines. On one client's land, 2 generations of sukiya stand side by side.

Visiting

Kitamura Museum of Art Shikunshien Main House can be seen during the spring and autumn special openings of Shikunshien. You take off your shoes to go inside, and photography is not allowed anywhere in the garden. The play of flat ceiling and shoji is clearest when you look from inside the rooms toward the garden; check how the tops of the screens run straight into the ceiling.