Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room
Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room is a small parlour of the early Taishō era in Tatsutachō, Gokashō, Higashiōmi City, Shiga Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 February 2021. Single-storey timber construction, tiled, with a building area of 15 square metres, it is the smallest of the thirteen buildings on the estate.
The name is literal. Standing on the south side of the main house, it joins the Shindachi wing to the east and continues to the south storehouse. Eight mats of tatami double as the passage between two other buildings.
Giving a Corridor the Rank of a Parlour
A corridor exists to be walked through. Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room imports the manners of a formal room into one. In the southwest corner sits a tsuridoko, an alcove that dispenses with the alcove post and the sill and hangs instead from the wall above, a device for fitting a Tokonoma into a space too tight for the usual form. Beside it opens a window shaped like a hand drum.
That window is a shitaji-mado, a type that leaves the bamboo lath of the wall substrate exposed, a device borrowed from tea architecture. The waisted drum outline is harder to build than a round or square opening. On the west face, looking onto the inner garden, a Kirime-en veranda runs outside glazed sliding screens, with Ranma transoms in the wall above. The Agency for Cultural Affairs register calls the building a sukiya-style composition that puts the garden first.
Alcove, lath window, veranda and transoms, all inside 15 square metres. Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room shows how the quality of the whole estate was held up by working on the connective tissue rather than only on the showpiece rooms. In an Ōmi merchant's seat, ceremonious parlours and intimate little rooms like this one share the same ground.
What to Look For
Face the drum-shaped window square on. The waisted outline, combined with the diagonal density of the bamboo lattice behind it, filters light in a way a plain opening does not, and the shadow it throws on the floor changes shape through the day.
At the veranda, look at how the boards end. A kirime-en shows the cut ends of the planks along the outer edge, which reads quite differently from a veranda laid with boards running lengthwise.
Then walk it. Enter from the Shindachi on the north, cross the eight mats of Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room, and come out at the south storehouse. Sitting to look at the garden and carrying goods to a storehouse happen on the same floor.
Visiting
Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room lies on the route that runs from the main house through the Shindachi while the Merchant Museum, Kyōrinbō Betsuin is open. It cannot be visited on its own. Openings are weekends and public holidays in spring and autumn, with dates announced on the Kyōrinbō website.
Photography is permitted. With the glazed screens on the garden side pushed open, the veranda and the garden fit into a single frame. Directions and admission details are given on the Shojukan page.
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Q&A
- What kind of building is Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room?
- An eight-mat tatami parlour that also serves as the passage between the Shindachi wing to the north and the south storehouse. At 15 square metres it is the smallest of the thirteen registered buildings.
- When was Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room built?
- In the early Taisho era. The Agency for Cultural Affairs record gives no closer date than that.
- What is the tsuridoko in Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room?
- A simplified alcove that omits the alcove post and sill and hangs from the wall above instead, used where a room is too small for a conventional tokonoma. Here it occupies the southwest corner.
- Where is the lath window in Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room?
- Beside the alcove. It is shaped like a hand drum and leaves the bamboo lath of the wall substrate visible.
- Is Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room a sukiya building?
- The register describes it as a sukiya-style composition that emphasises the relationship with the garden, meaning it borrows the methods of tea architecture.
Basic Information
| Name | Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room |
|---|---|
| Location | 396-1 Motoyashiki, Tatsutacho, Gokasho, Higashiomi City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 4 February 2021 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 15 square metres |
| Owner | Private (not disclosed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Open in limited spring and autumn seasons (Merchant Museum, Kyorinbo Betsuin) |
References
- National Designated Cultural Properties Database: Shojukan Hallway Tatami Room (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013573
- Merchant Museum, Kyorinbo Betsuin (official temple website)
- https://kyourinbo.jimdofree.com/home/kyorinbo-betsuin-merchant-museum/
Last verified: 2026.09.13
