Nirokuso

A Phosphate Company Clubhouse on Kitadaito

Nirokuso (弐六荘) is a single-storey timber building of 1940 in Minato, Kitadaito Village, Shimajiri District, Okinawa Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on December 5, 2007. It provided lodging and recreation for the phosphate mining operation on Kitadaito Island (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single-storey timber building with a sheet-iron roof and a building area of 243 square metres; registration number 47-0060, with no owner listed. Today it is the family-run inn Nirokuso, and Kitadaito Village describes it as a place where tourists and anglers have stayed since it opened as an inn in 1982 under the Asanuma couple.

Why It Was Registered

Nirokuso was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. Phosphate mining once sustained Kitadaito Island, and Nirokuso, which housed and entertained those who worked in it, is a reminder of that industrial past.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its open front of glazed doors and the calm presence given by its gently pitched roofs.

What to Look For

Nirokuso faces north. A gable-entry wing with a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) roof on the east and a gable-entry wing with a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) roof on the west run in parallel, joined in the middle on an I-shaped plan (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Many projecting parts make the roof complicated (Agency for Cultural Affairs). From the front you see two different gable ends side by side, a plain gable and a hip-and-gable, linked by the glazed front, and the low pitch makes the whole building sit wide and low.

Visiting Nirokuso

Nirokuso still operates as an inn (Kitadaito Village). We found no official information on visits by non-guests; the exterior can be seen from the street in the Minato district. Enquiries go through the inn's website or the Kitadaito Village Economic Affairs Division (09802-3-4033).