What Is the Former Kitato Toilet Building?
The Former Kitato Toilet Building (旧喜多藤便所棟, Kyū-Kitato Benjotō) holds the toilets and bath of a former restaurant inn in Honmachi, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture; a small single-storey timber building with a hipped-and-gabled Irimoya-zukuri tile roof, it was built in 1923 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 14 October 2021. It covers 39 square meters.
Coming through the Front Gate, you face the Annex, and the Toilet Building stands just in front of it. Covered corridors run to it from both the Annex and the Great Hall Building.
It dates from 1923, the same year as the Front Gate and the Annex, and belongs to the earliest phase of the inn.
Plumbing in a Building of Its Own
The Former Kitato Toilet Building contains toilets, a changing room and a bathroom. The inn took its washrooms out of the two-storey guest and banquet blocks and gathered them in a single low building.
Putting the toilets and bath in a separate building keeps smells and damp away from the tatami rooms. Two covered corridors then let guests walk to it under a roof from either the Annex or the Great Hall.
Rather than hiding a service building, the inn gave it a hipped-and-gabled roof and set it near the line of sight from the gate. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Former Kitato Toilet Building as a focal point in the grounds, part of the garden scene rather than something tucked out of view.
A Post-Free Corridor and a Terrazzo Basin
The corridors are the part to notice. They stand without posts, and their roofs are carried on thin log rafters left exposed as a Keshō-yaneura ceiling. Looking up, you see the row of slender logs as the ceiling itself.
Along the corridor is a hand-washing basin of artificial stone, a cement mix with stone chips that is ground or washed to look like natural stone. The material was common in bathrooms and kitchens of the 1920s and 1930s.
Slim log rafters and cast stone echo the log-built Front Gate. The Former Kitato Toilet Building shows the inn carrying its rustic sukiya taste right into its service quarters.
Visiting the Former Kitato Toilet Building
The Former Kitato Toilet Building is privately owned and not open to visitors. The grounds inside the gate are closed.
Although it stands just beyond the gate in front of the Annex, the building cannot be seen in full from outside. Please take photos from the public road only. Access and the site layout are covered on the Former Kitato page.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Kitato Toilet Building
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Q&A
- What is inside the Former Kitato Toilet Building?
- Toilets, a changing room and a bathroom. It gathers the washrooms of the former Kitato inn in one building.
- When was the Former Kitato Toilet Building built?
- In 1923, the same year as the Front Gate and the Annex.
- What should I look for at the Former Kitato Toilet Building?
- The post-free corridors roofed with exposed thin log rafters, and the artificial stone hand-washing basin.
- When did the Former Kitato Toilet Building become a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- On 14 October 2021, as registration number 24-295, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape.
- Can I visit the Former Kitato Toilet Building?
- No. It is privately owned, closed to the public, and visitors cannot go inside the gate.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kitato Toilet Building (旧喜多藤便所棟, Kyū-Kitato Benjotō) |
|---|---|
| Location | 118-1 Honmachi, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), Registration No. 24-295 |
| Year Designated | 2021 (registered 14 October 2021) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 1 storey, tile roof, building area 39 square meters |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Not open to the public |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Kitato Toilet Building (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013737
- 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
