Taku City Seikei Park Kanotei

A Coal Baron's Gift to His Village

The Taku City Seikei Park Kanotei (多久市西渓公園寒鶯亭, Kan'ōtei) is a single-storey wooden public hall built in 1924 in Seikei Park, Taku-machi, Taku City, Saga Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on July 8, 1999 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a single-storey wooden building with a tiled roof and a building area of 293 square metres, registration number 41-0011, owned by Taku City.

Takatori Koreyoshi and Seikei Park

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the hall was a gift from Takatori Koreyoshi, a mine owner born in the area. Taku City describes him (1850 to 1927) as a former pupil of the domain school Togen Shosha who went on to run the Kishima coal mine among others, and who gave the village of Taku a library, a public hall and Seikei Park.

The park occupies the former residence of a senior retainer of the Taku family, laid out at Takatori's own expense and named after his pen name, Seikei (Taku City). The hall served as the village hall and later as Taku City Public Hall, and has been called the Kanotei since 1992.

The name comes from a scroll by Takatori in the alcove, reading "the winter warbler awaits the spring". Taku City explains the wish behind it: just as a bush warbler practises its call through the winter to sing in spring, the villagers should study here and make their way in the world.

Why It Was Registered

The Kanotei was registered as a structure that has become a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a fine example of a public hall in the traditional Japanese style.

The ridge tag names the designer as Otsubo Yahei, an engineer of the Kishima coal mine, and the master carpenter as Funatsu Toragoro (Agency for Cultural Affairs), a fitting pair for a building given by a coal baron.

What to Look For

The core is three rooms of 16 mats each, wrapped on all four sides by a veranda under a broad hip-and-gable roof, with a carriage porch at the centre of the north front (Agency for Cultural Affairs). For a public hall, it looks much like a large Japanese mansion.

Look too for the "winter warbler" scroll in the alcove. Beside the building, Taku City notes a suikinkutsu, an upturned buried jar that turns dripping water into a koto-like chime (listed as under adjustment in 2024).

Visiting and Booking

The Kanotei is a city facility for hire. According to Taku City it is available from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and closed on Mondays (or the following day when Monday is a holiday). It has 3 rooms of 16 mats and a small 8-mat room; use requires advance permission, and the fee is 100 yen per room per hour, doubled for users from outside the city.

Bookings go through the designated manager, Nishikyushu Kensetsu (0952-74-3591), or Taku City's online facility booking system. The exterior can be seen from within the park.

For Seikei Park, Taku City advises taking a bus from JR Taku Station for about 10 minutes to the Hon-Taku stop, then walking about 5 minutes. The address is 1975 Taku-machi, inside Seikei Park.