Imahan Annex

Imahan Annex

Imahan Annex (今半別館, Imahan Bekkan) is a timber restaurant of about 1950 in Asakusa 2-chome, Taito City, Tokyo; its Entrance Building, South Wing and North Wing were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (structures) on September 19, 2003 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency explains that the business began after the war, when the Mita branch of the Imahan head shop moved to this plot in Asakusa and reopened as an annex. All three buildings were registered as models of design. What the Agency singles out is how cleverly a cramped lot on the back street east of Nakamise-dori was used to give an old restaurant a fitting front.

The restaurant's own page also notes the 2003 registration and lists its traditional Japanese architecture, rooms finished entirely in hinoki cypress and a green garden among the things that set it apart.

Three Buildings Around a Courtyard

At Imahan Annex the Entrance Building stands back from the street, and behind it the South Wing and the North Wing face each other across a courtyard (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

• Entrance Building (registration number 13-0159): single-storey timber, tiled roof, 66 square metres. Hip-and-gable roof, with two tatami rooms beside the entrance
• South Wing (13-0160): two-storey timber, tiled roof, 75 square metres. Joined to the southeast of the Entrance Building, with an L-shaped plan dictated by the site
• North Wing (13-0161): two-storey timber, tiled roof, 173 square metres. Northeast of the Entrance Building, with large and small banquet rooms upstairs

The North Wing is by far the largest, with the kitchen and serving rooms on the ground floor and the banquet floor above. The South Wing holds guest rooms on both floors, strung along a corridor. Packing buildings with different jobs around one courtyard was how a restaurant made the most of a narrow Asakusa plot. Each building has its own page with details of its structure and rooms.

Visiting

Imahan Annex still operates as a restaurant, so the way into its tatami rooms is as a dining guest (restaurant's own page). No official information on visits without dining was found.

According to the restaurant's page, it is a 5-minute walk from Asakusa Station on the Tobu Skytree Line and the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, and a 10-minute walk from Asakusa Station on the Toei Asakusa Line. There is no parking. It has no regular closing day and serves both lunch and dinner.

From the street you see the hip-and-gable front of the Entrance Building, set back from the road. The restaurant notes that tourists often stop to photograph it; this is a busy lane close to Sensoji, so keep clear of passers-by and the door when taking pictures.