Izumi City Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art Teahouse Shoin-an

The tea room by the bridge

The Izumi City Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art Teahouse Shoin-an (楠蔭庵, Shōin-an) is a small tea room built in 1941 in the garden of the Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art in Uchida-cho, Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.

The name is read Shoin-an; the national database also writes it with a variant character, 楠陰庵. It sits at the foot of the arched Senjin-bashi bridge in front of the Main Gate, outside the roji gardens, so it is the first of the tea buildings that a visitor crossing the river sees.

The building measures 1.5 by 2.5 ken and covers 18 square metres. It holds a three-and-a-half-mat tea room with a kininguchi, a full-height entrance for honoured guests, and a two-mat preparation room. The database dates it four years after Chosentei and Soan.

Why it was registered

Shoin-an was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The pantiled gable roof drops a step on the west side (an ochimune, or lowered ridge), and a copper Tsuchibisashi canopy projects beyond that. The stacked rooflines give the bridgehead a composed, layered look.

Unlike Chosentei and Soan, Shoin-an is not described as a copy of a specific Omotesenke room. Osaka Bunkazai Navi calls its interior Genso-gonomi, meaning it follows the taste of Genso, the art name of Kakukakusai, sixth head of Omotesenke.

What to look for

Look at the roof first. The main ridge steps down to the west, and the copper canopy extends past it; for such a small building the Izumi City Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art Teahouse Shoin-an has a surprisingly varied outline. As you cross the Senjin-bashi toward the tea compound it is on your left.

Osaka Bunkazai Navi describes the alcove inside: a tokobashira post set on a one-mat board, with a lintel across the top. The kininguchi entrance means guests can step in upright rather than crawl.

Visiting

The museum's Sunday tea room openings cover Chosentei; no interior opening is announced for Shoin-an (checked September 2026).

The exterior can be seen from around the Senjin-bashi bridge, on the way to the Main Gate. Photography of the tea buildings is allowed, but tripods and selfie sticks are not.