A Wing of Linked Shoin Rooms
South of the building the inn calls the rear wing stands this single-storey guest house, eight ken along the front and five and a half ken deep, roofed in a hipped form of unglazed pantiles. It was built around 1920, in the later Taisho years.
The two guest rooms here take the tsuzukima form, linked tatami rooms that can open into one another, each fronted by a wide veranda. Both are built around a shoin alcove setting, the formal decorative recess with its attached study window that anchors a high-grade Japanese room.
Each room also has its own hot-spring bath. Hanaya had opened in 1917 in Bessho Onsen, and by this date the inn was building guest wings of real generosity, offering space and privacy on a scale beyond its earlier rooms.
Listed as Hard to Reproduce Today
The wing was added to the register in 2006 under the criterion for structures not readily reproduced, a listing that points to the level of craft and material the building represents rather than only its historic setting.
The shoin alcove settings and the linked-room plan call for skilled joinery and well-chosen timber, work that would be difficult and costly to replicate now. The rooms are also large, and the combination of generous scale with careful detail is uncommon.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the wing as excellent in both quality and size, and it is that pairing, ample space finished to a high standard, that the listing sets out to protect.
What to Look For
Study the shoin setting in each room: the decorative alcove, the low staggered shelves, and the built-in writing window that together define a formal reception space. These are the elements that mark a room as high in grade.
The linked-room plan means two rooms can become one by sliding away the partitions between them. Notice the runners and the removable screens that make this possible, a flexibility built into traditional inn architecture.
As a large guest wing in a working ryokan, the building is best known from inside, staying in one of its rooms with the wide veranda open to the grounds. Its scale is easiest to feel from within.
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Q&A
- What is a shoin setting?
- It is a formal decorative alcove with staggered shelves and a built-in study window, the arrangement that anchors a high-grade Japanese reception room.
- What does the linked-room plan allow?
- Sliding partitions between the two rooms can be removed to join them into one larger space, a flexibility built into traditional inn design.
- When was it built?
- Around 1920, in the later Taisho period, when Hanaya was adding its more generous guest wings.
- Why is it hard to reproduce?
- Its skilled joinery, choice timber, and large well-detailed rooms would be difficult and costly to replicate today.
Basic Information
| Name | Hanaya Hotel Building No. 81 |
|---|---|
| Location | 169 Bessho Onsen, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture |
| Category / Listing | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), listed 18 October 2006 |
| Registration No. | 20-0294 |
| Count | One structure |
| Structure | Single-storey timber, hipped pantile roof; footprint approx. 121 sq m |
| Period | About Taisho 9 (c. 1920) |
| Owner | Hanaya Hotel Co., Ltd. |
| Access | About 5 minutes on foot from Bessho Onsen Station (Ueda Electric Railway) |
| Note | Large 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 00005879）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005879
- 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