Yoshida Sanso (Former Higashifushimi Family Residence) Main Building

The House at the Heart of Yoshida Sanso

The Yoshida Sanso (Former Higashifushimi Family Residence) Main Building is a 2-storey timber house of 1932 on the southern slope of Mount Yoshida in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 13, 2012. Built as the principal residence of the Higashifushimi family's Kyoto villa, it now holds the guest rooms and banquet rooms of the Yoshida Sanso ryokan.

The house covers 237 square meters. Its Irimoya-zukuri roof is laid with Sangawara-buki tiles, with some sections in copper sheet. The entrance faces east, directly ahead as you come through the Front Gate. Inside, a Naka-roka runs east to west with the living rooms lined up along its south side, and a single-storey wing drops down from the southwest corner.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the Main Building firmly to 1932. The five other registered buildings on the estate are dated to around that year, which makes the Main Building the anchor for the whole group.

Why It Was Registered as a Model of Form

Of the six buildings at Yoshida Sanso, only the Main Building was registered under the criterion of serving as a model of architectural form. The Agency's commentary describes it as a fine modern Japanese-style residence, mostly tatami rooms, into which Western touches such as stained glass and an east-facing veranda on the upper floor have been worked.

Wealthy households of the early Shōwa era often split their homes into two separate buildings, a Japanese wing for daily life and a Western wing for receiving guests. Yoshida Sanso does not. The Western details sit inside a single Japanese house in the Shoin-zukuri tradition, and the way colored glass and a veranda settle into a run of tatami rooms without looking borrowed is the core of its value.

The ryokan describes the building as made entirely of hinoki cypress, with the ura-kiku chrysanthemum crest, associated with the imperial family, pressed into the roof tiles. The Kyoto City Tourism Association adds that the same crest appears on the sliding-door pulls.

Stained Glass Copied from an Ancient Bronze Mirror

The most elaborate design element at Yoshida Sanso is the stained glass. A round window sits to the left of the entrance, and more colored glass fills windows in the reception room and the room called Hana no Ma. According to the ryokan, the patterns come from the back of a bronze mirror of the Kofun period.

The model was a mirror excavated in 1885 from the Shinyama burial mound in Koryo, Nara Prefecture, and now held by the Imperial Household Agency. It is known as a chokkomon mirror, after the chokkomon motif of interlocking straight lines and arcs. In the round window by the entrance, a band of inward-facing arcs circles the middle of the disc, and a four-petal seat surrounds the central knob.

The ryokan suggests the mirror was chosen because the shapes in its outer and inner bands resemble the katakana letters for "Fushimi". There is no way to confirm that the family name guided the choice. Still, a household with imperial ties copying an imperial-collection mirror into its front windows says a good deal about the house.

What to Look For

At the entrance, look first at the round stained glass on the left. Seen from inside with daylight behind it, the chokkomon lines stand out most sharply. Glance up at the eaves and you can pick out the chrysanthemum crest on the end tiles.

Every guest room in the Main Building faces south, and the ground-floor rooms open directly onto the garden. From the upper floor the view runs past the garden to the Higashiyama hills and the city, while the east veranda gives the line of tatami rooms a Western-style corner. From the garden, compare the roof of the single-storey southwest wing with the 2-storey main block to read how the house is put together.

Visiting the Main Building

Only overnight guests and diners with a lunch or dinner reservation can enter the Yoshida Sanso Main Building. There are no open days or public tours. The stained glass by the entrance is in plain view as you arrive, but the windows in the reception room and individual guest rooms can only be seen if you are using that room.

The house stands behind the Front Gate, and from the street little more than part of its roof is visible. Photography rules indoors may depend on which rooms are in use, so check with the staff before taking pictures.