Oyamazaki Villa

Oyamazaki Villa

Oyamazaki Villa (大山崎山荘), on the slopes of Mount Tenno in Oyamazaki, Otokuni District, Kyoto Prefecture, was the country house of the Kansai businessman Kaga Shotaro (1888-1954); 6 structures from the Seikaro tower of 1915 to the tea rooms, garage and tunnel of the early Showa period, with the main house, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on July 23, 2004 (Agency for Cultural Affairs; museum). The main house and two tea buildings are owned by Asahi Group Japan, Ltd., and the garage, tower and tunnel by Kyoto Prefecture.

The House and the Buildings in its Grounds

The main building, of the early Taisho period and extended in 1927, has a half-timbered three-storey part and Jacobean-style interiors (Agency for Cultural Affairs). In the grounds stand the Saigetsuan tea room, chair-seated and doubling as a chapel, and the log-built Tochinoki teahouse; on high ground at the back is the Seikaro lookout tower with its varied openings, at the south-east corner the Rokando approach tunnel, and near the entrance the half-timbered former garage.

The main building is now the Asahi Group Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, with galleries by Ando Tadao added (museum). Each structure is described on its own page.

Visiting

According to the museum, it opens from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (last entry 4:30 p.m.) and is closed on Mondays (Tuesday if Monday is a holiday), on occasional days and over the New Year. It is about 10 minutes on foot from JR Yamazaki and Hankyu Oyamazaki stations.