A Working Tea House Built for Schoolchildren
The Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House (三水第一小学校茶室, Samizu Daiichi Shōgakkō Chashitsu), known locally as Hōmoan (法母庵), is a single-storey wooden tea house at 179 Ōaza Fukōji, Iizuna Town, Kamiminochi District, Nagano Prefecture, built in 1942 and entered on Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 25 February 2016.
Its floor area is 41 square metres, the roof is sheet iron, and the plan holds two tea rooms rather than one. A three-mat room and a four-and-a-half-mat room sit side by side and share a single mizuya, the preparation space where water is drawn and utensils are washed. An irikawa-en, an inner veranda, wraps two sides of the larger room at a right angle.
Two rooms off one mizuya is an unusual arrangement for a building of this size, and the reason is plain once you know who it was for. A class of children cannot take turns in a single four-and-a-half-mat room. Doubling the practice space while sharing the service core let a whole cohort work at once.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs record also notes a relocation in 1983, four decades after construction.
Why a Village School Wanted a Tea Room
The building came from a donation by Iwama Seiji, who later served as headman of Samizu Village. According to the account kept by the Hachijuni Culture Foundation, Iwama was moved by the educational programme of the school's principal, Shiratori Gichiyo, who argued that character in rural young women could be formed through the practice of tea and classical poetry, and he paid for a tea house so that the argument could be tested in a real room.
The design is said to follow Hōmoan, a tea house in Tokyo belonging to Okuda Shōzō (1884 to 1950), principal of Tokyo Seikei Girls' High School, under whom Shiratori had studied. Okuda built his women's education around tea and set out his thinking in Chami, a book still read among tea practitioners. The Nagano building took his tea house's name. Construction was carried out by Matsuhashi Yūhei, a master carpenter from nearby Kurai.
The year matters. 1942 fell in the middle of the Pacific War, when timber, labour and roofing material were all under pressure, and a rural school nonetheless put up a properly detailed tea house.
Japan's registration system uses three criteria, and this property was entered under the second of them, which asks that the work provide a model of design. Most registered structures qualify under the first criterion, contribution to the historic landscape. The second is applied less often and points at the quality of the building itself rather than its role in a townscape, which is worth knowing when reading the entry.
What to Look For, and How to Arrange a Visit
The three-mat room is the stricter of the two. It has a nijiriguchi, the low sliding hatch through which guests enter on their knees, a device Sen no Rikyū is credited with introducing to level rank at the threshold. Its ceiling is a kakekomi-tenjō, in which one section slopes along the underside of the eaves and carries the roof line into the room, so the space feels lower at the entrance and opens as you settle.
The four-and-a-half-mat room is handled in sukiya manner. Its posts are menkawa-bashira, squared but left with a strip of bark at each arris, so the timber reads as trimmed rather than milled. The tokobashira, the post at the edge of the display alcove, is a kobushi log with its bark still on, kobushi being the Japanese magnolia that flowers white across these hillsides before the leaves come.
Visiting takes preparation. The tea house stands on school grounds, not in a park or a temple precinct, and it has been used for pupils' hands-on learning rather than as a sightseeing stop. The four elementary schools of Iizuna Town were consolidated into two in April 2018, and Samizu Daiichi Elementary closed at that point. Anyone hoping to see the building should contact the Iizuna Town Board of Education in advance to ask about current access. Turning up unannounced at a school is not appropriate.
The town lies north of Nagano City. Mure Station on the Shinano Railway Kita-Shinano Line is about five minutes away by car, and the Shinshū-Nakano interchange on the Jōshin-etsu Expressway about twenty.
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Q&A
- Can the Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House be visited by the public?
- Not freely. It stands within school grounds and has served as a teaching space rather than a tourist site. Contact the Iizuna Town Board of Education beforehand to ask about arranging a viewing. Arriving without prior arrangement is not appropriate at a school.
- Why is the Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House also called Hōmoan?
- The name comes from a tea house in Tokyo owned by the educator Okuda Shōzō, which local accounts say served as the model for the Nagano building. Iizuna Town records list the property as Samizu Daiichi Shōgakkō Chashitsu with Hōmoan given as its common name.
- Why does the Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House have two tea rooms?
- Because it was built for teaching. A three-mat room and a four-and-a-half-mat room share one mizuya, which allows a large group of pupils to practise at the same time instead of waiting for a single room to free up.
- When was the Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House built and registered?
- It was built in 1942, when the school was known as Samizu Daiichi National School, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs record notes a relocation in 1983. Registration as a Tangible Cultural Property took effect on 25 February 2016, under number 20-0499.
- How do you reach the Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House?
- The address is 179 Ōaza Fukōji, Iizuna Town, Kamiminochi District, Nagano Prefecture, north of Nagano City. Mure Station on the Shinano Railway Kita-Shinano Line is roughly five minutes away by car, and the Shinshū-Nakano interchange on the Jōshin-etsu Expressway about twenty minutes.
Basic Information
| Name | Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House (三水第一小学校茶室), commonly Hōmoan |
|---|---|
| Location | 179 Ōaza Fukōji, Iizuna Town, Kamiminochi District, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 20-0499; criterion: model of design |
| Year Designated | Registered 25 February 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber structure, sheet-iron roof, building area 41 m²; built 1942, relocated 1983 |
| Owner | Iizuna Town |
| Public Access | Within school grounds; no open public viewing. Enquire with the Iizuna Town Board of Education in advance |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010970
- Cultural Heritage Online: Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/292680
- Hachijuni Culture Foundation: Cultural Properties of Shinshu, Samizu Daiichi Elementary School Tea House
- https://www.82bunka.or.jp/bunkazai/detail.php?no=6166&seq=0
- Iizuna Town: Elementary School Consolidation
- https://www.town.iizuna.nagano.jp/docs/446.html
Last verified: 2026.08.20