Pavilion Court (Former Yamanaka Partnership Art Museum) Japanese-Style Building

What Is the Pavilion Court Japanese-Style Building?

The Pavilion Court (Former Yamanaka Partnership Art Museum) Japanese-Style Building (パビリオンコート（旧山中合名会社美術館）和館) is a single-story wooden display hall for antique art, built in 1904 in Awataguchi Sanjobocho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto City, moved to its present spot in 1967, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2003.

It went up in 1904, the year the art dealer Yamanaka & Co. opened its Kyoto branch, as one of two buildings for displaying and preparing objects that stood beside a wooden main shop. The main shop is gone, and of the buildings from the branch's opening, this is the only one Kyoto City records as surviving.

The building is single-story timber under a roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles, with a building area of 105 square meters. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the interior has been refitted and is now used for a café, among other things.

Why the Pavilion Court Japanese-Style Building Was Registered

The Japanese-Style Building of Pavilion Court became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, number 26-0159, on December 1, 2003, for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. Its temple-like eaves and tiled roof face Jingu-michi and form part of the streetscape opposite Shoren-in.

Kyoto City points to the temple vocabulary of its exterior, including Kaerumata (frog-leg struts) and Funahijiki (boat-shaped bracket blocks), and notes that the carved woodwork is reused old timber. For a new shop of the Meiji era, borrowing the look of a temple reads as a deliberate choice, letting the building itself act as a signboard for a dealer in East Asian antiques.

What to Look for at the Pavilion Court Japanese-Style Building

Bracket blocks and diamond lattice

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the eaves as carried on Funahijiki, simple boat-shaped blocks set on top of the posts to support the beam above, a detail found in old temples and houses. Above the windows runs a band of diamond-pattern lattice. Stand back on the street and look up: the lattice reads as one long strip under the eaves, with the windows lined up below.

Carvings on the south side

On the south side of the Japanese-Style Building, the upper wall is decorated with Kaerumata and carved Ranma transom panels. Kyoto City says this carved work uses old timber. Look for differences in wear and color between the carvings and the plainer members around them. Pieces that came from somewhere else often give themselves away like that.

A move and a new use

The building was moved within the site in 1967 and its interior was later refitted. The operator describes the three structures registered in 2003 as "the gate, the lobby building and the Western-style building," which suggests that the Japanese-style building now serves as the lobby. The café in one corner of the lobby displays a carved openwork lion, a shop sign that apprentices are said to have hung out and taken in every day, and office desks used by the dealer's staff.

Visiting the Pavilion Court Japanese-Style Building

The front of the Pavilion Court (Former Yamanaka Partnership Art Museum) Japanese-Style Building faces Jingu-michi, so you can look at the exterior from the street. The easiest way inside is during the opening hours of the café in the lobby. Opening days and directions are on the Pavilion Court page.

The carvings on the south side sit high on the wall, so you will be looking up at them. No official guidance on photography inside could be found; ask the staff before taking pictures (checked October 2, 2026).