Former Ryokan Kokonoe

The Site of the Former Ryokan Kokonoe

The Former Ryokan Kokonoe (旧料理旅館九重, Kyū Ryōri Ryokan Kokonoe) is a group of buildings from a traditional dining inn in Ueno Nishihinatamachi, Iga City, Mie Prefecture, centered on a main building adapted from townhouses of around 1924; its Main Building, Annex, and Gate and Wall were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2018. A ryōri ryokan is a Japanese inn whose business rested less on overnight stays than on meals and banquets served in tatami rooms.

The site lies in what was the merchants' quarter of the old castle town below Iga Ueno Castle. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a T-shaped plot: one lot faces a street running east to west, and a second lot behind it opens onto a street running north to south. The Main Building fills most of this ground. Toward the east-west street it keeps the face of a traditional machiya townhouse, while toward the north-south street it presents the look of a residence with a front garden.

A detached Annex stands behind the Main Building, and the Gate and Wall close off the front of the north-south lot. One inn, in other words, turned two quite different faces to two streets. The national advisory council that recommended the registration called the Former Ryokan Kokonoe a traditional timber dining inn that tells the history and changes of the castle town.

History of the Former Ryokan Kokonoe

The Agency's database dates the Main Building to around 1924, with an extension of around 1943. It places the Gate and Wall around 1943 and the Annex around 1949.

A local newspaper report from March 2018, quoting the cultural properties division of the Iga City Board of Education, fills in the sequence. Kokonoe opened after acquiring a pair of adjoining townhouses on the east-west street that had been built around 1924. Around 1943 a partly three-story building with a large banquet hall was added, and the gate and wall went up at about the same time. The Annex, west of the Main Building across an inner garden, followed around 1949. The inn closed in 1998.

Two townhouses, a wartime extension that gave the inn its banquet rooms and formal entrance, then a postwar detached wing: the order matches the dates of the three registered structures. The word "former" in the name of the Former Ryokan Kokonoe reflects that closure.

The Three Registered Structures of the Former Ryokan Kokonoe

All three structures of the Former Ryokan Kokonoe were entered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on May 10, 2018, under the consecutive numbers 24-249 to 24-251. Each was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

• Former Ryokan Kokonoe Main Building: around 1924, extended around 1943. Timber, two stories with a partial third story, tiled roof, building area 317 square meters
• Former Ryokan Kokonoe Annex: around 1949. Timber, single story, tiled roof, building area 54 square meters
• Former Ryokan Kokonoe Gate and Wall: around 1943. The gate is timber with a tiled roof and an opening 3.1 meters wide; the timber wall, also tiled, runs 14 meters in total

The three play distinct roles. The Main Building is the core of the inn, townhouse on one side and residence on the other. The Annex is a small postwar pair of guest rooms finished with blue roof tiles and irregular stone. The Gate and Wall form a low, quiet front toward the north-south street. The owner field in the Agency's records is blank for all three.

Visiting the Former Ryokan Kokonoe

No public viewing of the Former Ryokan Kokonoe is advertised (as of October 2026). The 2018 newspaper report said that part of the Main Building was still being used as an eatery after the inn closed, but no official notice could be found to confirm current opening days or which rooms visitors may enter. In practice, a visit means looking at the buildings from the street.

From outside you can see the townhouse front of the Main Building on the east-west street, and the Gate and Wall on the north-south street with the residence side of the Main Building behind them. The Annex stands detached behind the Main Building and does not face either street. No rules on photography are posted, but these are private buildings, so stay off the property and keep clear of the doors.

The nearest stations are Kayamachi and Uenoshi on the Iga Railway Iga Line. Measured from map coordinates, the Former Ryokan Kokonoe lies about 530 meters west of Kayamachi Station and about 690 meters south of Uenoshi Station, both in a straight line. No information on dedicated parking was found.