Kyochaan Hanare Shop (Former Anjo Family Residence Main House)

A Taisho House with a Stone-Look Western Room

The Kyochaan Hanare Shop (Former Anjo Family Residence Main House) (饗茶庵花蓮店舗（旧安生家住宅主屋）) is the main house of a blended Japanese and Western residence of 1916 in Kamizaimokucho, Kanuma City, Tochigi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 6, 2024 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building with a sheet-metal roof and a building area of 76 square metres, extended in 1962 and renovated in 2020; registration number 09-0272.

A Western Room and a Tatami Room Either Side

This is the main house of a blended Japanese and Western residence north-east of the site of Kanuma Castle (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Facing east in the middle of the plot under a hipped roof of seamed sheet metal, it has a gabled entrance porch at the front, a Western room to the north and a tatami room with an alcove to the south, wrapped by a veranda.

The walls of the Western room are rendered in mortar and scored to look like stone (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Tochigi Prefecture's list of registrations notes that it is now used as a sports gym.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes that its neat exterior shapes the historic townscape of the area, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape.

What to Look For

Look for the scored mortar walls of the Western room and the gabled front entrance (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

The owner field in the Agency database is unclear. Tochigi Prefecture notes that it is now used as a sports gym. No official information on public access was found.