What Is the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building)?
The Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building) (旧北村医院（李軒邸）離れ座敷（待合棟）, Kyū Kitamura Iin Riken-tei Hanare Zashiki, Machiaitō) is a detached parlor built in 1868 in Tobakamicho, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, converted into a clinic waiting room in the late Taisho era (1919 to 1926), and entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on October 14, 2021. It is a single-storey timber building with a hipped roof (Yosemune-zukuri) of pantiles and a building area of 41 square meters. It stands on the south side of the compound, immediately west of the front gate, and a corridor on its north side connects it to the consultation building.
It began life as an inkyo-ya, a retirement cottage where the older generation lived after handing the household over to their heir.
Why It Was Registered
The Detached Parlor was registered under the criterion of contributing to the country's historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a clinic building in the Japanese manner and notes that its history, from retirement cottage to waiting room, illustrates how the clinic changed.
A parlor built for family life at the end of the Edo period became, some fifty years later, the room where patients waited to be seen. The Kitamura waiting room building shows in a single structure how the practice grew by absorbing parts of the home.
What to Look For
A copper-roofed entrance canopy
At the east end of the north side is an entrance canopy with a small hip-and-gable roof (Irimoya-zukuri) sheathed in copper. Against the tiled main roof, the lighter copper marks the doorway clearly. Patients coming through the front gate, just to the east, most likely stepped up into the waiting room here.
A waiting room beside a formal room
The interior has a waiting room of five and a half tatami mats in the center and a formal shoin-style room of four and a half mats to the west. The room used for waiting and the room that kept its formal character sit side by side, so the conversion did not erase the cottage's parlor.
A bark-edged alcove post and a round window
The formal room is defined by its alcove post, a Menkawa-bashira that keeps the rounded bark edges of the log at its corners, and by a round window. Posts of this kind were a favorite of tea rooms (Chashitsu) and relaxed sukiya-style interiors. In the Former Kitamura Clinic waiting room building, they add a note of ease that has nothing to do with medicine.
Visiting the Waiting Room Building
The interior of the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building) is not open, and no visiting arrangements had been announced as of September 27, 2026. The alcove post and round window are indoor features and cannot be seen. Because the building adjoins the front gate, part of its roof may be visible from near the gate, but this has not been checked on site. The agency's database shows the exterior from the northwest and the interior from the northeast.
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Q&A
- What was the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building) originally?
- It was built in 1868 as a retirement cottage for the older generation of the family. It was converted into the clinic waiting room in the late Taisho era, between 1919 and 1926.
- What is inside the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building)?
- A five-and-a-half-mat waiting room in the center and a four-and-a-half-mat formal room to the west. The formal room has a bark-edged alcove post and a round window.
- Where is the entrance to the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building)?
- At the east end of the north side, under a small hip-and-gable canopy roofed in copper. It is just west of the front gate.
- Why is the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building) a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on October 14, 2021, for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. Its change from retirement cottage to waiting room is valued as evidence of how the clinic developed.
- Can visitors go inside the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building)?
- No. The interior is not open, and no public opening had been announced as of September 27, 2026. Please do not enter the private grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building) |
|---|---|
| Location | 761 Tobakamicho, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | 2021 (registered) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 1 storey, tiled roof, building area 41 square meters |
| Owner | Not published |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (no opening announced; checked September 27, 2026) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Detached Parlor (Waiting Room Building)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014031
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Council for Cultural Affairs recommendation on registered buildings (July 16, 2021, Japanese)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/pdf/93246101_01.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.26
