A Detached Wing Open to the Garden
West of the large bathhouse stands a compact detached wing, four and a half ken square, built in 1918. It is a single-storey timber building under an irimoya roof, the hip-and-gable form, finished in unglazed pantiles.
The wing takes the hanare form, a freestanding guest building set apart from the main run of rooms. Inside, two guest rooms sit side by side, each built around an eight-mat tatami room with an anteroom in front, and each fitted with its own hot-spring bath.
Bessho Onsen has offered its waters to travellers for centuries, and by the Taisho era Hanaya was adding rooms like these to give guests a more private, self-contained stay. The year 1918 places it among the inn's earlier guest wings.
Listed for the Quality of Its Rooms
The wing was added to the register in 2006 as a structure serving as a model of design, the criterion reserved for buildings judged accomplished in their planning and detail rather than valued mainly for their place in the landscape.
What earns that recognition is the way the rooms and the garden work as one. The eight-mat rooms with their anterooms open outward, and the greenery beyond is treated as part of the interior rather than a view held at a distance.
The result is a calm, self-possessed guest space, private thanks to the detached plan and the bath attached to each room, yet unhurried and closely tied to the world outside its edge.
What to Look For
Notice the anteroom that precedes each eight-mat room. This buffer between corridor and main room is a mark of a well-planned guest suite, setting a measured approach before the room itself.
The irimoya roof, combining a hipped lower slope with a gabled upper section, gives the small building a more formal silhouette than a plain hipped or gabled hut. It is a shape worth picking out from the grounds.
As a detached wing within a working ryokan, this building is experienced by staying in it. The garden it opens onto is meant to be seen from within the room, at leisure, across the day's changing light.
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Q&A
- What does hanare mean?
- It is a detached guest building set apart from the main run of rooms. This wing holds two such rooms, each with its own hot-spring bath.
- What is the anteroom for?
- Each eight-mat room is preceded by an anteroom, a buffer between corridor and main room that marks a well-planned guest suite.
- When was it built?
- In 1918, during the Taisho period, among Hanaya's earlier guest wings.
- Why is it listed as a model of design?
- Because its rooms and garden are composed as one, an accomplished, calm guest space rather than a building valued mainly for the wider landscape.
Basic Information
| Name | Hanaya Hotel Building No. 27 |
|---|---|
| Location | 169 Bessho Onsen, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture |
| Category / Listing | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), listed 18 October 2006 |
| Registration No. | 20-0291 |
| Count | One structure |
| Structure | Single-storey timber, hip-and-gable (irimoya) pantile roof; footprint approx. 84 sq m |
| Period | Taisho 7 (1918) |
| Owner | Hanaya Hotel Co., Ltd. |
| Access | About 5 minutes on foot from Bessho Onsen Station (Ueda Electric Railway) |
| Note | Detached guest wing; rooms have private hot-spring baths |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース — 花屋ホテル（管理対象ID 00005875）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005875
- 別所温泉旅館組合 — 別所温泉観光案内
- https://www.bessho-spa.jp/
- 旅館花屋 公式サイト — 館内・沿革のご案内
- https://www.hanaya.ne.jp/
Last verified: 2026.07.03