What Is the Former Kitato Enshutei?
The Former Kitato Enshutei (旧喜多藤艶秀亭, Kyū-Kitato Enshūtei) is a detached guest-room building of a former restaurant inn in Honmachi, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture; a single-storey timber building with a gabled Sangawara-buki tile roof, it was built in 1932 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 14 October 2021. It covers 103 square meters.
Enshutei stands at the eastern edge of the property and has its own entrance, separate from the Front Gate. It even has its own lot number: 116 Honmachi, while the other six buildings share 118-1.
It went up on its own in 1932, between the Annex of 1923 and the Great Hall of 1936, four years before the banquet hall and as rooms for overnight guests.
A Front Door for Every Room
Inside the Former Kitato Enshutei are four tatami rooms and one Western-style room. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, each room has a separate entrance of its own, so guests could come and go from each room independently.
Guest rooms at an inn are normally reached through one entrance and a shared corridor. Enshutei dispenses with that. Entering by a gate other than the main one, a guest could reach their room without crossing paths with other guests or with a banquet party. In effect the inn set a row of five private cottages under one roof.
Each room also gets its own window design, so that each room has its own face from outside and its own character within.
Split Bamboo and Colored Clay
The outer walls pair two materials. The lower part is clad in split bamboo, halves of culm laid side by side, and the upper part is finished in colored earth plaster. It is a look built on the texture of the materials themselves, quite unlike board siding or white plaster.
The agency notes the care and invention that went into the Former Kitato Enshutei and credits it with shaping the eastern edge of the site. Its registration criterion is contribution to the historic landscape.
Visiting the Former Kitato Enshutei
The Former Kitato Enshutei is privately owned and its interior is not open. It has its own entrance apart from the Front Gate, but that entrance is not open to visitors either.
Unlike the six buildings behind the Front Gate, it stands on a separate lot at the east end of the site. If you look at it from a public road, stay off the property and keep clear of neighbours. Access and the site layout are covered on the Former Kitato page.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Kitato Enshutei
- [ Ise Grand Shrine & Shima Bay Cruise Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the Former Kitato Enshutei built?
- In 1932. It was built on its own, between the Annex of 1923 and the Great Hall of 1936.
- What kind of building is the Former Kitato Enshutei?
- A detached guest-room building of the former Kitato restaurant inn: a single-storey timber building with a gabled tile roof, four tatami rooms and one Western room, 103 square meters in plan.
- What is unusual about the rooms in the Former Kitato Enshutei?
- Each room has its own entrance, so guests could come and go separately, and each room has its own window design.
- When did the Former Kitato Enshutei become a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- On 14 October 2021, as registration number 24-294, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape.
- Is the Former Kitato Enshutei at the same address as the other Former Kitato buildings?
- No. The other six are at 118-1 Honmachi, while the Former Kitato Enshutei is at 116 Honmachi, on the east edge of the site.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kitato Enshutei (旧喜多藤艶秀亭, Kyū-Kitato Enshūtei) |
|---|---|
| Location | 116 Honmachi, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), Registration No. 24-294 |
| Year Designated | 2021 (registered 14 October 2021) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 1 storey, tile roof, building area 103 square meters |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Not open to the public |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Kitato Enshutei (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013736
- Cultural Properties (Nabari City, in Japanese)
- https://www.city.nabari.lg.jp/s061/010/020/000/030/201502051897.html
- List of Designated Cultural Properties in Nabari (Nabari City, PDF, in Japanese)
- https://www.city.nabari.lg.jp/s061/010/020/000/030/R7shiteibunnkazaiitirann64.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.27
