About the Baiso Main Building
The Baiso Main Building (梅荘本館) is the single-storey timber main house, built around 1907, at the centre of the Baiso villa in Kojima-Kayo, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 26, 2015. Its thatched reception wing, with an attached sencha tea room, is in the refined sukiya manner.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single-storey timber building with a thatched roof and a building area of 261 square metres; registration number 33-0267, dated around 1907, renovated in 2005. No owner is listed in the national record, and Kurashiki City gives it as privately owned. Baiso was built as a villa by Nozaki Bukichiro, grandson of the salt-field magnate Nozaki Buzaemon, to commemorate victory in the Russo-Japanese War (Kurashiki City).
Why It Was Registered
The Baiso Main Building was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a villa built for sea bathing by the Nozaki family, who ran large salt fields. Kurashiki City values the main building, with its tea-room reception suite, as evidence of how the formal reception room developed in the modern era.
What to Look For
According to the Agency, the Baiso Main Building stands at the centre of the site and combines a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) thatched reception wing with a gabled, pantile-roofed living room and kitchen wing, so thatch and tile meet in one building.
The sukiya-style reception wing has an entrance with a carriage porch and a sencha tea room. Its flat writing alcove is pierced by a round window, and the transoms are carved in a light wave pattern (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Kurashiki City notes that Baiso's buildings use cedar alcove posts with straight grain on all four faces, and ceilings mainly of Yakushima cedar boards on battens, with some of hexagonally adzed cedar and reed or black-lacquered battens with paulownia, so each room is finished differently.
Visiting the Baiso Main Building
Baiso is privately owned, and its main building is used as a restaurant (Kurashiki City). You can enter the Baiso Main Building during opening hours; whether the tea room and round window can be seen is not stated, so ask the staff. Hours and directions are on the Baiso page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Baiso Main Building
- [ Kurashiki Bikan District & Korakuen Garden Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the Baiso Main Building built?
- Around 1907; it was renovated in 2005.
- What is distinctive about the Baiso Main Building?
- It joins a thatched hip-and-gable reception wing to a tiled living and kitchen wing, with a carriage-porch entrance and a sencha tea room.
- When was the Baiso Main Building registered as a cultural property?
- On March 26, 2015.
- Can you go inside the Baiso Main Building?
- Yes, during restaurant hours; it is used as a restaurant (Kurashiki City, Kurashiki tourism website).
- Who built the Baiso Main Building?
- Nozaki Bukichiro, grandson of the salt-field magnate Nozaki Buzaemon, as part of the Baiso villa commemorating the Russo-Japanese War victory (Kurashiki City).
Basic Information
| Name | Baiso Main Building (梅荘本館) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1200 Daimyojin, Kojima-Kayo, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2015/3/26 (Heisei 27) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | A single-storey timber building with a thatched roof and a building area of 261 square metres |
| Owner | Private (not listed in the national record) |
| Public Access | Open during restaurant hours |
References
- Baiso Main Building (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010505
- Baiso main building and four others (Kurashiki City, Cultural Properties Division)
- https://www.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/24989.htm
Last verified: 2026.10.06
