A Wing Built for Guests
The Former Joki Clinic Shoin (旧常喜医院書院, Kyū Jōki Iin Shoin) is a formal reception wing built around 1930 on the estate of a family of country doctors in Dotani, Maibara City, Shiga Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 5, 2019. It stands to the west of the main house and is linked to it by a corridor on its north side.
The single-storey wooden building has a tiled roof and a building area of 62 square metres. Its date comes from the original design drawings, which survive. A shoin, in this sense, is a set of formal tatami rooms for receiving guests, and the Joki family chose to give it a building of its own rather than squeeze it into a house that was already doing double duty as a clinic.
Why It Matters
The Former Joki Clinic Shoin was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as reflecting the way of life of a provincial medical household: a village doctor's family that needed not only a surgery and living rooms, but somewhere proper to entertain.
The Shiga prefectural report goes further, calling it a valuable example of modern formal-room architecture. It is not a large building, but real care went into both the roof and the decorative fittings of the main room.
What to Look For
Outside, the roof is the thing to notice. A hipped-and-gabled Irimoya-zukuri roof in Sangawara-buki tiles is ringed by lower lean-to roofs, or Geya, so that the eaves seem to step down in layers.
Those lean-tos on the south and east sides are floored with tatami and serve as corridors looking onto the garden. Inside, the formal shoin room lies to the south, with an anteroom and an 8-mat room to the north. A small 3-mat dressing room projects from the northwest corner of the anteroom.
The shoin room holds the building's best work: a 2-mat tatami alcove, a Tsukeshoin writing bay and staggered chigaidana shelves, with Ranma transoms carved with a dragon and Mount Fuji. The sliding paper screens are nekoma-shoji, which have a small inset panel in the middle that can be slid open on its own.
The dragon motif turns up again elsewhere on the estate, in the plaster relief on the east storehouse, so it is worth keeping an eye out for it.
Visiting
As of September 2026 the Former Joki Clinic Shoin is not regularly open to the public. To arrange a visit, contact the owner in advance through the Maibara City Board of Education, Lifelong Learning Division (cultural property conservation section), telephone 0749-53-5154.
If you get the chance, look closely at the carved transoms and the nekoma-shoji in the shoin room, then step out onto the tatami corridor to see how the wing opens onto the garden. Ask about photography at the time of your visit.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Joki Clinic Shoin
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Q&A
- When was the Former Joki Clinic Shoin built?
- The surviving design drawings date it to around 1930.
- What is special about the Former Joki Clinic Shoin's decoration?
- The shoin room has a 2-mat tatami alcove, a tsukeshoin writing bay, chigaidana shelves, transoms carved with a dragon and Mount Fuji, and nekoma-shoji screens with a small sliding inset panel.
- How are the rooms of the Former Joki Clinic Shoin arranged?
- The formal shoin room is on the south side, with an anteroom and an 8-mat room to the north and a 3-mat dressing room off the anteroom. Tatami corridors on the south and east face the garden.
- How is the Former Joki Clinic Shoin connected to the main house?
- It stands to the west of the main house and is joined to it by a corridor along its north side, so that the two buildings wrap around the garden.
- Can visitors go inside the Former Joki Clinic Shoin?
- As of September 2026 it is not regularly open. Contact the Maibara City Board of Education, Lifelong Learning Division, on 0749-53-5154 in advance to ask about visiting.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Joki Clinic Shoin |
|---|---|
| Location | 212 Kitakoji, Dotani, Maibara City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2019/12/5 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, single storey, tiled roof; building area 62 square metres |
| Owner | Maibara City |
| Public Access | Not regularly open to the public; enquire with the Maibara City Board of Education (checked 2026/9) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Former Joki Clinic Shoin
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013129
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Joki Clinic Shoin
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/413905
- Shiga Prefectural Board of Education, report on buildings recommended for registration (August 5, 2019, Japanese)
- https://www.pref.shiga.lg.jp/file/attachment/5148198.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.26
