What Jinjitsuan Is
The Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan (横山家住宅尽日庵, Yokoyama-ke Jūtaku Jinjitsu-an) in Oaza Komono, Komono Town, Mie Prefecture, is a single-storey timber tea house (Chashitsu) of the mid-Meiji period (1883 to 1897), registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on April 3, 2020. It covers 19 square meters under a gabled pantile roof (Kirizuma-zukuri, Sangawara-buki).
It stands southwest of the shoin, at the far end of the garden. It was not built here: it was moved to Komono around 1968.
According to Komono Town, Jinjitsuan was designed to the taste of Yoshida Jokei, a Nagoya tea master of the Omotesenke school. Yokoyama Yoji's essay notes that Jokei's okoshi-e, a fold-up model drawing of the room, still survives.
Moved Twice
The Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan was moved twice before settling here. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records moves around 1952 and around 1968.
The family essay fills in the story. The tea house stood at an old family's house in Kasugai until 1952, when the Narita family of Nagoya, relatives of the Yokoyama, took it over; the connection came through a grandson of Jokei, himself a tea master and a close friend of the Narita. In 1968, when the new shoin and garden were built, it was brought to Komono, and on November 10 of that year the same grandson performed the tea ceremony that opened it.
A Meiji tea room that passed through three households along the ties of a family of tea people: that history is part of what Jinjitsuan is.
How the Tea Room Is Arranged
From outside it has the rustic look of a thatched-hut tea house. Under the north eave is the low crawl-in entrance (nijiriguchi); under the east eave a narrow veranda leads to a taller doorway for honored guests (kinin-guchi). Guests wait at the covered bench (Koshikake-machiai) at the west end of the shoin and follow stepping stones to the tea room.
Inside is a room of two and three-quarter mats (nijo daime). The alcove on the west side is a horadoko, its inner walls plastered all round so that it recedes like a small cave, with a wooden board laid in front; in so small a room it adds a sense of depth. A veranda wraps from the south to the west, and the preparation room (Mizuya) projects on the west.
The Agency calls the Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan a fine example of modern Sukiya-zukuri and registered it as a model of design, register no. 24-0278. Only 2 of the 6 buildings were registered under that criterion: Jinjitsuan and the main gate.
Seeing Jinjitsuan
The Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan sits at the very back of the estate inside the tea garden (Roji) and cannot be seen from outside the grounds. The interior is not open.
From the shoin veranda or the waiting bench you can see its roof and eaves at the end of the stepping stones. Check the Yokoyama Family Residence group page for events.
Q&A
- How do you read the name of the Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan?
- Yokoyama-ke Jūtaku Jinjitsu-an, following the furigana in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database.
- Who designed the Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan?
- According to Komono Town, it was designed to the taste of Yoshida Jokei, a Nagoya tea master of the Omotesenke school. His fold-up model drawing survives.
- When was the Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan moved to Komono?
- Around 1968. It had already been moved once before, around 1952.
- What is inside the Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan?
- A room of two and three-quarter mats with a cave-like alcove on the west side, a crawl-in entrance under the north eave, a doorway for honored guests on the east, and a preparation room projecting to the west.
- Can visitors see the Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan?
- No regular opening. It stands deep in the garden and cannot be seen from outside; visits are by reservation at events.
Basic Information
| Name | Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan (横山家住宅尽日庵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2656 Aza Nakazato, Oaza Komono, Komono Town, Mie District, Mie Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building), register no. 24-0278 |
| Year Designated | Registered April 3, 2020 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey wooden building, tiled roof partly metal-sheeted, building area 19 square meters |
| Owner | Waiwai Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not open regularly. By reservation at events |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013263
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yokoyama Family Residence Jinjitsuan
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/430572
- Registered Cultural Property: Yokoyama Family Residence (Komono Town, in Japanese)
- https://www2.town.komono.mie.jp/site/kankou/2028.html
- Komono Cultural Properties Newsletter, Issue 34 (Komono Town Board of Education)
- https://www2.town.komono.mie.jp/uploaded/attachment/5102.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.27
