A Hall of 108 Mats
Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall (眠雲閣落合樓紫檀宴会場) is a two-storey timber building of 1933 to 1937 at the hot spring inn Ochiairo in Yugashima, Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, entered on the national register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 18 November 1999. It has an Irimoya-zukuri hipped-and-gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles and a floor area of 378 square metres, the largest of the seven registered buildings on the site.
It stands north of Min'untei, aligned with the old Mochikoshi road. The ground floor holds three banquet rooms of a little over 30 mats each; the upper floor is a single hall of 108 mats. This is not a sleeping building but a gathering one.
Why It Is Registered
The criterion cited is that the building serves as a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database calls Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall a large-scale work and directs attention to the upper hall in particular: an alcove framed in rosewood posts and rails that keep their knots exposed, together with refined shelving and a Tsukeshoin study bay.
A room of 108 mats, roughly 170 square metres in the common Edo-ma module, cannot be built in timber without solving the problem of spanning it. Putting that room on the first floor makes the matter harder still, because the column grid and beam layout below decide what is possible above. Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall survives as a worked example of how early Shōwa carpenters handled a hall of this size in conventional Japanese framing.
Rosewood, shitan in Japanese, is a dense tropical hardwood long reserved in Japan for furniture and alcove posts. That the building takes its name from a material rather than from a function says plainly what the subject of the room is.
What to Look At
The alcove upstairs is the whole argument. The Japanese term desebushi describes timber worked so that its knots stay visible on the finished face. Knots are normally a defect to be cut around, but with a wood as scarce and hard as rosewood the carpenter may choose to show them instead. Around the Tokonoma of Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall both the post and the framing rail are rosewood, and nothing is hidden.
The shelving beside the alcove and the study bay belong to the same composition. A tsukeshoin was originally a writing alcove pushed out towards the veranda to catch light, and in a formal reception room it signals rank. Finding that apparatus in a banquet hall is what separates Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall from a plain large room.
From outside, watch the roof. A hipped-and-gabled tiled roof over 378 square metres of plan sits noticeably higher than its neighbours, and from the road side the difference in eaves height against the pantry and staircase building and Min'untei is obvious. Three rooms below and one hall above is a section you can read from the street.
Visiting
Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall is part of a working inn and is not open to the general public. Only overnight guests see it. Because the hall is used for weddings and celebrations, it may be closed on days when a function is booked.
Inn staff run a walking commentary on the registered buildings for guests, and the upper hall of Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall is its high point. The route upstairs uses the stair in the pantry and staircase building, so anyone who finds stairs difficult should raise it with the inn in advance.
The inn publishes no statement on photography, and during a function the room belongs to the people holding it; follow what the staff say. Directions to the site and the conditions for staying are set out on the Min'unkaku Ochiairo page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Shizuoka
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall
- [ Mt. Fuji Views & Atami Hot Spring Resorts ]
Questions and Answers
- How large is the upper hall of Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall?
- It is a single room of 108 tatami mats. Below it are three banquet rooms of a little over 30 mats each, and the building's floor area is 378 square metres.
- What is the rosewood in Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall?
- Shitan, a dense tropical hardwood. The alcove of the upper hall is framed in rosewood posts and rails with their knots left showing, and the building is named for it.
- Can I see Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall?
- Not as a general visitor. Only overnight guests see it, and access may be closed on days when a wedding or other function is booked.
- Where on the site is Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall?
- North of Min'untei, along the old Mochikoshi road. It connects to Min'untei through the pantry and staircase building.
- When was Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall built and registered?
- It was built between 1933 and 1937 and became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 November 1999.
Basic Information
| Name | Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall |
|---|---|
| Location | 1887-1 Yugashima, Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 1999 (Heisei 11) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Floor area 378 square metres |
| Owner | Ochiairou Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; guests of the inn only |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Min'unkaku Ochiairo Rosewood Banquet Hall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001415
- Izu City: Nationally Designated and Registered Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.izu.shizuoka.jp/soshiki/1013/8/3/1090.html
- Izu City: List of Cultural Properties in Izu City
- https://www.city.izu.shizuoka.jp/soshiki/1013/8/3/1020.html
- Ochiairo: About
- https://www.ochiairo.co.jp/about/
Last verified: 2026.09.13
