A large tearoom at the southern edge of the compound
The Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei is a Chashitsu teahouse in Hattori, Mabicho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, built in the mid-Meiji period and listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) on 6 August 2025.
It stands south of the main house at the far edge of the site, its ridge running east to west. The building is single storey, timber, with a tiled roof and a floor area of 59 m²; the roof form is Yosemune-zukuri with Sangawara-buki pantiles. Kurashiki City records that the interior has three rooms, two of which were converted into a tearoom in the late Taisho period. The structure came first and the tea function was added to it.
The conversion is attributed to Sezaki Toshio, the fifth head of the family and a serious practitioner of tea. He also built the Nyozean elsewhere on the site. The Shoraitei was fitted out as a large room rather than a small one, suited to gatherings with a number of guests.
Listed as a model of design
The Shoraitei was registered under the criterion for buildings that serve as models of design, the same criterion applied to the main house and the Nyozean. The storehouses and gates on the site were listed for a different reason, their contribution to the landscape.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a seven-mat room with an Engawa veranda and a hearth cut in the yojohan-giri position. That term refers to where the sunken hearth sits: the room is larger than four and a half mats, but the hearth follows the geometry of a four-and-a-half-mat tearoom, so the host's movements keep to the classic proportions.
A six-mat room holding the Mizuya preparation area adjoins it, separated by a sliding wall that incorporates a Shitaji-mado lattice window. Building a window into a sliding panel is awkward work and produces a surface that is neither quite wall nor quite door.
A round window, a triangular shelf, a bark-covered post
The main room has a fukurodoko, an alcove narrowed at the front by a section of wall, with a Tokobashira post of pine left in its bark. A triangular shelf and a round window sit alongside. Narrowing the opening concentrates attention on whatever hangs inside, and the untrimmed post brings the texture of the hillside into a finished room.
The ceiling is a kakekomi type, which carries the slope of the exposed roof structure down into the room instead of closing it with a flat panel. Light from the round window falls across that inclined plane, so the brightness of the room shifts noticeably through the day.
The overall effect is deliberately open, the opposite of the closed and inward small tearoom that the same family built a few steps away.
Visiting
The Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei is privately owned and is not normally open. Because it stands at the southern edge of the site, the hipped roof and eaves can be seen from the road to the south. The front gate opens immediately to its east, and the two together form the southern face of the compound.
The interior cannot be visited and photography should be kept to what is visible from outside the property. Press reports describe a residents' group running a tearoom tour here in 2025; the Cultural Property Protection Division of the Kurashiki City Board of Education (telephone 086-426-3851) can say whether anything is planned. Directions are given on the Sezaki Family Residence page.
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Q&A
- Can I take tea at the Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei?
- Not as a rule. The teahouse is private and holds no regular tea gatherings for visitors, though local groups have organised occasional tours; ask the Kurashiki City Board of Education.
- Was the Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei always a teahouse?
- No. The building dates from the mid-Meiji period, and according to Kurashiki City two of its three rooms were converted into a tearoom in the late Taisho period.
- What does yojohan-giri mean at the Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei?
- It describes where the sunken hearth is cut. The room holds seven mats, but the hearth keeps the position used in a four-and-a-half-mat tearoom.
- Why was the Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei registered?
- It was listed on 6 August 2025 as a model of design, cited for features such as the round window, the triangular shelf and the alcove with its bark-covered pine post.
- Can the Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei be seen from outside?
- Yes, in part. Its hipped roof and eaves are visible from the road along the southern edge of the compound. The grounds themselves are closed.
Basic Information
| Name | Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei |
|---|---|
| Location | 914-1 Tsujido, Hattori, Mabicho, Kurashiki, Okayama |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2025/08/06 (Reiwa 7) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single storey, tile roof, building area 59 m² |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private residence; exterior only, from outside the grounds) |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database: Sezaki Family Residence Shoraitei (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015505
- Sezaki Family Residence Main House and Other Structures (Kurashiki City Board of Education)
- https://www.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/culture/art/1007596/1007597/1011206/1007792/1016887.html
Last verified: 2026.09.17
