Fujiya Ryokan

What Is Fujiya Ryokan?

Fujiya Ryokan (冨士屋旅館) is a wooden hot-spring inn complex in Kannawa, Beppu City, Oita Prefecture, built in 1898, whose main house, front gate, stone steps and stone wall were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan on November 20, 2001.

The four registrations carry consecutive numbers, 44-0069 through 44-0072, and all four were listed under the same criterion: structures that contribute to the historic landscape of the nation. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes Fujiya as a long-established inn of Kannawa Onsen, the hot-spring quarter at the core of Beppu's eight historic spa districts.

The inn stopped taking guests in 1996. Instead of being demolished, the building was turned into a gallery and concert space, and it now opens to visitors as the Hanayamomo Hall & Gallery, with a café lounge and a shop.

A Spa Inn Turned Hall and Gallery

The government database dates all four Fujiya Ryokan properties to 1898. The operator, Hanayamomo Co., gives 1899 instead. This page follows the government record and notes the difference.

According to the operator, written records name the builders: master carpenter Yakuro Toyoshima (豊嶋彌九郎) of Kamegawa in northern Beppu, working with sawyers, stonemasons and plasterers. For almost a century the inn served toji guests, people who came to Kannawa for long, restorative stays in the steam and hot water, until it closed in 1996.

A 2013 magazine feature adds a detail that explains what survives. Fujiya's original main wing stood where the Kannawa Mushiyu steam bath now operates; it was torn down first. The remaining building was due to follow, but the current gallery director turned the demolition crew away on the day they arrived. The registered main house and its approach are the part of Fujiya Ryokan that escaped.

In July 2025 the operator opened a new lodging building, Fujiya Hotel, in the inn's former garden. The registered main house now serves that complex as its hall, gallery and café.

Layout and the Old Way In

The Fujiya Ryokan main house faces east. A long north-south wing under a hipped roof forms the core, with an east-west wing attached to its south end. The original entrance was a formal Shikidai porch in the middle of the east front; a new entrance with an Irimoya-zukuri roof was added on the south side in the Taisho era.

The government description records how guests once arrived. They turned off Ideyu-zaka slope onto a paved lane along the east side of the site, climbed a short flight of stone steps, passed through the front gate and found themselves facing the shikidai porch. The gate lines up with that porch, the steps are exactly as wide as the gate, and the stone wall that bounds the east edge of the property zigzags along the lane on either side of the steps.

Three of the four registered items, in other words, are pieces of this single eastern approach. Walking it from the lane upward, wall, steps, gate and porch, shows how a Meiji inn staged a guest's arrival.

Visiting Fujiya Ryokan

The interior of the Fujiya Ryokan main house can be entered during café hours. The operator lists the café lounge as open 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (Tuesday and Wednesday when Monday is a public holiday). Concerts, exhibitions and talks are held in the hall on an irregular schedule. Hours are subject to change, so check the official website before you go (checked October 1, 2026).

The front gate, steps and stone wall are on the east side of the site and can be seen from outside. It is not confirmed that the gate and steps still serve as a way in, so follow the signs on site when entering.

From JR Beppu Station, take a local bus toward Kannawa and get off at the Kannawa stop; Fujiya Ryokan stands next to the Kannawa Mushiyu steam bath, which makes a good landmark. Drivers are directed by the operator to its own car park in front of the Oita Kotsu bus terminus in Kannawa, a walk of one or two minutes. The lanes of Kannawa are very narrow, so treat satellite navigation routes with care. Enquiries: Fujiya, +81-977-66-3251.