A reception wing built for the Taisho years
Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Zashiki Reception Hall is a two-storey timber building of the Taisho era (1912-1926) at 40 Higashi-Shinmachi in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture, entered on the national register of tangible cultural properties on May 7, 1997. It occupies roughly the middle of the Kajimura plot and joins onto the back of the main house.
At 174 square meters it is the second largest of the eight registered buildings here, and the largest built in the twentieth century. The word zashiki names a formal tatami room, and the whole structure exists to hold two of them, one above the other.
The roof is Irimoya-zukuri, hipped below and gabled above. Eaves run along three sides, the rear being the exception, and a corridor one bay wide passes across both the front and the back of the building on each floor. That ring of circulation is what lets the tatami rooms sit undisturbed in the middle.
What visitors notice first, though, is glass. Sliding fittings glazed with large panes wrap the outer face of both storeys. Sheet glass in that quantity was still a statement in a provincial castle town, and the Kajimura family, prospering as industrialists by then, used it to turn the whole envelope into light.
Registered as a model of design
The Zashiki Reception Hall of Joto Mukashi Machiya was registered on May 7, 1997, notice following on May 29, under register number 33-0008. Like most of the estate it holds the status of Registered Tangible Cultural Property, and the criterion recorded against it is that the building is a model of its kind in form and design.
The national database is unusually direct about why. It describes the building as carefully finished in good materials, and as something from which the refined technique and method of the Taisho era can be read. That is a judgment about craft standards rather than about age; nothing here is old by the measure of Japanese architecture.
Reading the estate as a sequence helps. The main house in front is late Edo, the small service wing behind it is early Meiji, and this hall is the moment when a merchant family with money from the new industrial economy decided to build for entertaining. The Joto district around it was selected as a Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 2013, and this building is a large part of what gives that district its early twentieth century layer.
What to look at
Look along the glazing line first. Because the fittings wrap the outside of the corridors rather than the rooms, the reflections move as you walk, and the building reads differently from every angle of the garden.
Inside, each floor holds a broad tatami space that can be divided in two. Sliding partitions do the dividing, which means the same volume serves a small gathering or a large one without alteration.
The Ranma transoms above those partitions are where the money went. Carved openwork panels of this type were commissioned work, and in the Zashiki Reception Hall the timber selection and the joinery of the fittings are of a piece with them. Run a glance along a door track and then up to the transom above it; the same hand is visible in both.
The upper floor is the reason to climb. Seen from the second storey the roofs of the storehouses, the tea house and the western building arrange themselves below, and the shape of a large merchant compound becomes legible in a way it never is at ground level.
Visiting
The Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Zashiki Reception Hall cannot be entered at present. Tsuyama City closed the whole compound on the first of June in 2025 for renovation work and has said it will reopen around November 2026, with part of the site put to use as accommodation. No detail beyond that month has been released, so confirm before travelling; the site number is 0868-22-5791.
Terms in force until the closure were straightforward: free entry, doors open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., last admission 4:30 p.m., closed on Tuesdays and, when a public holiday landed on a Tuesday, on the following day. The compound also shut from December 29 to January 3. None of this has been confirmed for the reopened site.
From JR Tsuyama Station the walk east takes about 25 minutes. By car it is roughly 10 minutes from the Tsuyama interchange on the Chugoku Expressway, with a visitor car park serving the Joto district. Because this hall stands deep inside the plot, there is no view of it from the street, and a visit has to wait for the compound to open.
Photography rules for the interior have not been published. Ask at reception once the site reopens rather than assuming either way.
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Q&A
- Is the Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Zashiki Reception Hall open to visitors?
- Not at the moment. The compound has been closed for renovation work since 2025 and is announced to reopen in 2026. The hall sits deep in the plot, so it cannot be seen from the road either.
- What makes the Joto Mukashi Machiya Zashiki Reception Hall unusual?
- Glazed sliding fittings wrap the outer face of both storeys, and each floor holds a wide tatami room divisible into two. It covers 174 square meters, the largest of the twentieth century buildings on the estate.
- When was the Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Zashiki Reception Hall built and registered?
- It dates from the Taisho era (1912-1926) and was registered as a tangible cultural property on May 7, 1997, under register number 33-0008.
- How do I reach the Joto Mukashi Machiya Zashiki Reception Hall?
- The estate is about 25 minutes on foot east of JR Tsuyama Station, or some 10 minutes by car from the Tsuyama interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. Use the Joto district visitor car park.
- Can I take photographs in the Joto Mukashi Machiya Zashiki Reception Hall?
- The policy for the reopened site has not been published. Check with staff when the compound opens again.
Basic Information
| Name | Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Zashiki Reception Hall |
|---|---|
| Location | 40 Higashi-Shinmachi, Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on May 7, 1997 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys, tiled roof, floor area 174 square meters |
| Owner | Tsuyama City |
| Public Access | Closed for renovation work (since 2025); reopening planned in 2026 |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Zashiki
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000162
- Tsuyama Machijuu Museum, Digital Experience Guide: Old Machiya Townhouse of Joto
- https://tsuyama-machijuu.jp/en/guide/joto-mukashi/
- Okayama Kanko Web: Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence)
- https://www.okayama-kanko.jp/spot/detail_10509.html
Last verified: 2026.09.09