Imahan Annex South Wing

Guest Rooms Folded into a Narrow Plot

The Imahan Annex South Wing (今半別館南棟) is a guest-room wing of a restaurant of about 1950 in Asakusa, Taito City, Tokyo, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on September 19, 2003 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 75 square metres; registration number 13-0160.

An L-Shaped Two-Storey Wing

The Imahan Annex South Wing is a two-storey guest-room wing joined to the southeast of the Entrance Building (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It has a gabled pantile roof, and its plan bends into an L to follow the shape of the lot.

On both floors a corridor runs along one side with guest rooms opening off it (Agency for Cultural Affairs). At the east end of the ground floor a former bathroom survives, a trace of the building's working life beyond the dining rooms.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered the Imahan Annex South Wing as a model of design, noting that every room has its own formal alcove fittings and that the ceilings, sliding doors and transoms use choice timber in abundance, finished with fine craftsmanship.

What to Look For

Look at the alcove fittings in each room and the choice timber of the ceilings, doors and transoms (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Comparing the grain of the wood and the transom designs from room to room shows that each one was given its own character.

The restaurant's page highlights rooms built entirely of hinoki cypress and carving by master craftsmen in the transoms, walls and ceilings.

Visiting

The Imahan Annex South Wing sits deep in the lot, and whether it can be seen from the lane could not be confirmed. Its rooms are for dining guests; no official information was found on which rooms are offered.