About the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building
The Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building (日光金谷ホテル本館, Nikkō Kanaya Hoteru Honkan) is a three-storey timber hotel building first built in 1893 in Kamihatsuishi-machi, Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 10, 2005. It is the building in which the Kanaya family opened their hotel on this hilltop, and it took on its present form in a remodeling of 1936.
The plan is an L facing east, with a building area of 1,395 square meters under a sheet-iron roof. The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists the front desk lobby and bar on the first floor, the dining room and 7 guest rooms on the second, and 17 guest rooms on the third. Tochigi Prefecture describes the structure as timber with some Ōya stone stone masonry.
Why It Was Registered
The Main Building was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency notes how Japanese decorative motifs were worked into the interior of a Western-style hotel, and calls the building a symbol of modern Nikko.
It is also the reference point for everything else on the site. In the Agency's database the other four registered buildings are all located in relation to it: the New Building to the northwest, the Annex to the northeast, Kanrantei on the high ground to the south. More than 130 years after opening, the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building still holds the front desk and the main dining room.
A Floor Added Underneath
When it opened, the Main Building was a two-storey timber structure. The hotel says that until around 1935 it was a colonial-style building with a generous veranda. In 1936 the ground beneath it was excavated and a new first floor was built, turning it into three storeys. The Oya stone facade that guests see today dates from that work.
Rather than stacking a storey on top, the builders slipped one in below. The hotel's own timeline makes the same distinction, crediting 1893 with the second and third floors and 1936 with the first. Stand in front of the entrance and compare the stone base with the timber floors above it: the line between them is the line between the two periods.
The revolving door at the entrance is known to have been in use before the remodeling and is thought to have been moved to its current position at that time. Above it coils a three-clawed dragon carved in wood.
Upstairs in the Main Dining Room is a carving of a kalavinka, a mythical bird with a woman's upper body, made in zelkova and colored with mineral pigments by Yoshida Senjūrō of Koarai in Aizu. More carvings fill the transoms of the dining room, and an "imaginary elephant" elsewhere in the building appears to be modeled on the sacred beasts at Nikko Toshogu. The founder, Kanaya Zen'ichirō, had served at Toshogu, and the hotel explains its many Toshogu-inspired details by that connection.
Visiting the Main Building
The ground-floor lobby of the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building is a public space open free of charge to non-guests from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Walk through the revolving door and you are standing in the floor that was added in 1936. The Main Dining Room on the second floor operates as a restaurant and welcomes non-guests for meals. The third-floor rooms are for hotel guests only.
For a closer look, the hotel lends a smartphone audio and video guide of about 40 minutes at the front desk (800 yen, Japanese only). Filming and photo shoots require the hotel's prior permission, so ask at the front desk before taking pictures beyond casual snapshots.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Tochigi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building
- [ Nikko Toshogu Shrine & Kegon Falls Day Trip ]
Q&A
- When was the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building built?
- It was built as a two-storey timber building when the hotel opened in 1893 and was remodeled into three storeys in 1936 by excavating the ground beneath it.
- Why is the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on November 10, 2005, for contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs highlights its Japanese interior motifs and calls it a symbol of modern Nikko.
- Why is the first floor of the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building made of stone?
- The first floor was added underneath the original building in 1936 and finished in Oya stone. The 1893 structure now forms the second and third floors.
- Can non-guests enter the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building?
- Yes. The lobby is open to everyone from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and the Main Dining Room on the second floor serves non-guests. The third floor is for hotel guests only.
- Where are the carvings in the Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building?
- A dragon sits above the revolving door, a kalavinka carving hangs in the second-floor Main Dining Room, and more carvings decorate the dining room transoms.
Basic Information
| Name | Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building |
|---|---|
| Location | 1300 Kamihatsuishi-machi, Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered November 10, 2005 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 1,395 square meters |
| Owner | Kanaya Hotel Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Partly open (lobby and restaurant open to non-guests; guest rooms for guests only) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004919
- Cultural Heritage Online: Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/195919
- Tochigi Cultural Properties: Nikko Kanaya Hotel Main Building (Tochigi Prefecture, Japanese)
- https://bunkazai.pref.tochigi.lg.jp/cultural/%E3%80%90%E6%97%A5%E5%85%89%E9%87%91%E8%B0%B7%E3%83%9B%E3%83%86%E3%83%AB%E6%9C%AC%E9%A4%A8%E3%80%91/
- Nikko Kanaya Hotel: Cultural Heritage and Timeline (Japanese)
- https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/nkh/appeal/
- Kanaya Hotel: History (Japanese)
- https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/appeal/
- Nikko Kanaya Hotel: Facilities (Japanese)
- https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/nkh/facilities/
- Nikko Kanaya Hotel: FAQ (Japanese)
- https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/nkh/faq/
- Nikko Kanaya Hotel: Immersive Guide (Japanese)
- https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/nkh/guide/
- Nikko Kanaya Hotel: Filming and Media Requests (Japanese)
- https://www.kanayahotel.co.jp/nkh/media/
Last verified: 2026.10.04
