International Christian University Taizanso

What Is International Christian University Taizanso?

International Christian University Taizanso (国際基督教大学泰山荘, Taizansō) is a group of villa buildings laid out around 1936 for the businessman Yamada Keisuke on what is now the International Christian University (ICU) campus in Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, and all six surviving buildings were registered in 1999, each as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

The compound occupies the southwest corner of the campus, on the lip of a bluff that drops toward the Nogawa River. Past a thatched gate, the buildings are scattered through a stand of mixed woodland: the Kofukyo tea house, the Waiting Room (machiai), the Shoin reception wing, a storehouse, the Front Gate itself and a garage. Each has its own entry in the national register, numbered 13-0057 through 13-0062.

Yamada planned Taizanso as a retreat for tea gatherings, and its two oldest structures were brought in from elsewhere to serve that purpose. Kofukyo was the main tea room; guests assembled first in the Waiting Room. Built into Kofukyo is the Ichijojiki, or One-Mat Room, a study that the explorer Matsuura Takeshiro added to his Tokyo home in 1886. That tiny room is the main reason scholars know the name Taizanso.

From Private Villa to University Property

Yamada Keisuke (1881–1944) was an executive of the Nissan conglomerate. According to the university, he chose this corner of suburban Mitaka because Mount Fuji showed on the horizon and he wanted somewhere to host tea. The gate, main house, Shoin, Waiting Room, Kofukyo, storehouse and garage were built new or relocated here around 1936, reportedly under the direction of the tea master Kameyama Sogetsu. The university's Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum gives 1939 as the year the villa was completed. Records show that political heavyweights including Matsuoka Yosuke and Terauchi Hisaichi attended the opening tea.

The Yamada family did not hold it for long. In 1940 Nakajima Aircraft bought up the surrounding land, and the company's founder, Nakajima Chikuhei, made Taizanso his home, living out his final years here through the war and its immediate aftermath.

When ICU chose the former Nakajima site for its campus in 1950, Taizanso, which had come through the war undamaged, became university property along with the land. It has been kept as a university facility since ICU opened in 1953.

A fire in 1966 destroyed the main house, a farmhouse that had been moved from Hino and was linked to the Shoin by a corridor. The six buildings that survived are Taizanso as it stands today.

How the Six Buildings Fit Together

The thatched Front Gate, a Yakuimon-type gate, stands toward the northern edge of the site and forms the entrance. The garage lies just inside, to the right and set back a little. The main house once filled the middle of the grounds; the Shoin stood to its southeast, and the storehouse sits just east of the Shoin. The Waiting Room keeps its distance at the western edge. Kofukyo alone lies below the rim, partway down the slope, reached by a narrow path.

The layout follows the choreography of a tea gathering. Guests composed themselves in the Waiting Room before being led down to Kofukyo. The Shoin and storehouse served the main house as a formal room and a store, and the garage catered to a host and guests who came by car. A late Edo tea room and a Meiji study with its Taisho tea house, all moved in from elsewhere, share the ground with a reception wing and storehouse built new in the early Showa era.

Below the bluff to the south, the Tohachi Road runs east to west, with the Nogawa River just north of it. Trees now block the view, but Mount Fuji could once be seen in the distance from the top of the slope.

Visiting and Getting There

International Christian University Taizanso is normally closed, and entering the grounds requires the university's permission, a measure taken to protect the buildings. Each year the university sets special open days, usually timed to its campus festival, when the buildings can be viewed from outside. The Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum on campus handles inquiries.

In 2026 the open days fall on Sunday, October 11 and Monday, October 12 (a national holiday), as a partner event of Tokyo Cultural Property Week 2026. On both days the exteriors of five buildings (the Shoin, Waiting Room, storehouse, garage and Front Gate) can be viewed freely from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Kofukyo can be seen, from outside only, by joining a guided tour led by students and staff: up to 15 people per group, about 40 minutes, free of charge. Applications were taken by return-reply postcard between August 17 and September 15, with a lottery if oversubscribed, so the 2026 tours are already closed.

Photography is not allowed during the tour, for safety reasons. The university tea club holds a tea gathering in the Shoin and courtyard on the open days (a fee applies), and it may not be photographed either. The path down to Kofukyo is rough underfoot; wear sturdy shoes and skip heels, which damage the moss. Nobody is admitted before 11:00 a.m., and waiting outside the Front Gate beforehand is not permitted. The opening may be cancelled in bad weather.

To reach ICU, take Odakyu Bus route Taka 51 bound for International Christian University from stop 5 at the south exit of JR Mitaka Station and ride to the last stop, a trip of roughly 20 minutes; the bus drives onto the campus. Route Sakai 93 runs to the same terminus from stop 2 at the south exit of Musashi-Sakai Station, and a taxi from Musashi-Sakai takes about 10 minutes. Allow 15 minutes or so on foot from the campus bus stop to Taizanso. For inquiries, call the Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum at 0422-33-3340 (Tuesday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.).