Tozanso

Tozanso

Tozanso (東山荘) in Kasugacho, Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, is a Japanese-style villa of the early Showa period whose seven buildings, beginning with the main building of 1933, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 1, 2016 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). They are owned by the Church of World Messianity.

The villa was built in 1933 for Ishii Kengo, president of the Dai-Ichi Bank; Okada Mokichi bought it in 1944 and named it after the local place name Higashiyama, now Kasugacho (Toho no Hikari).

The Seven Buildings

The main building stands toward the north-east of a site looking over Sagami Bay. A detached wing is linked to it by a covered passage at the north end, the annex stands at the south-west corner, the tea house sits on higher ground to the west with the storehouse joined to its north end, and the storage shed lies south-west of the main building. The main gate opens onto the road at the north end of the west side (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The main building has slender sukiya-style timbers and large glass windows on its east side; the detached wing and tea house use logs of many kinds of tree; the annex staggers its rooms toward the sea; and the storehouse is a concrete store built in 1946 for works of art (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Each is described on its own page.

Visiting

The buildings are owned by the Church of World Messianity (Agency for Cultural Affairs). According to Toho no Hikari, an organisation affiliated with the church, a local preservation society holds open days and plans regular openings; check their announcements for dates.