Kajikaen

A Riverside Inn Built Down a Cliff

Kajikaen (河鹿園) is a former kappo ryokan, or restaurant inn, on the left bank of the Tama River in Mitakehonmachi, Ōme City, Tokyo, which grew from a front office and main house of around 1925 into a stepped complex whose 8 buildings were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 17, 2020.

The site sits just below JR Mitake Station, on top of a bluff that drops toward the river. The Front Office and Main House stands at the northwest entrance, and from there the ground falls away to the southeast in terraces. Each guest wing occupies its own step, and the lower a building sits, the closer it is to the water.

Kajikaen began as a rest stop. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the front office as dating back to the business's earliest days, when it served sightseers stepping off the train on their way to Mount Mitake or the gorge. Through the Showa era it became an inn with a run of tatami reception rooms. The name refers to the kajika frog, a small stream frog known for its clear call.

How the Eight Buildings Fit Together

Past the Front Office and Main House, the largest building at Kajikaen, Shazansō, stands north of center. Sangyorō faces the river; Keibaian sits one terrace lower to its east; Chinryūtei, lower still, occupies the lowest point of the site. The Large Bathhouse lies below Shazansō to the east, and a small Inari shrine stands in the courtyard north of Chinryūtei.

The Watari-Roka corridor ties them together. It runs from the north side of Sangyorō past Keibaian to Chinryūtei and the bathhouse, handling the slope with 2 flights of stairs and a ramp. At Keibaian the change in level allows separate entrances on the first and second floors, and at Chinryūtei the corridor meets the building at its upper storey.

Most guest wings date from around 1930. Later work, including a relocation and extension in 1954 and additions in 1989, shows how the inn kept adjusting its buildings while it stayed in business.

Registered Together, Registered as a Whole

The 8 buildings at Kajikaen carry consecutive registration numbers, 13-0440 to 13-0447, and were all listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 17, 2020. The Front Office and Main House was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country; the other 7 were registered as models of design.

What makes the site worth the trip is less any single room than the way tatami wings, baths, a corridor and a shrine were stacked onto an awkward cliff. The Agency's notes on Chinryūtei call it a high-quality guest wing that conveys the boom years of Okutama tourism.

From Inn to Museum Without Glass Cases

Kajikaen stopped operating as an inn in 2017 and reopened as the Ryokan Building Shitsurai Art Museum Kajikaen, showing the buildings as they were. According to the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual database, the 18 guest rooms became galleries for hanging scrolls and ceramics arranged with seasonal flowers, and the former bathhouse has hosted contemporary art. A hall beside the reception desk shows seasonal works.

Kajikaen opens only while an exhibition is running. The Ome City Tourist Association lists hours of 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the museum closed on Mondays and Tuesdays during exhibitions and closed entirely between them. The most recent confirmed run was a collection show between January 10 and March 8, 2026, so check the association's event listings or the museum's Facebook page for the next dates before setting out.

Admission is set for each exhibition. The tourism agency text prepared in 2021 gave 800 yen for the permanent display. Enquiries go to 0428-78-8218.

Getting to Kajikaen

Kajikaen is about 1 minute on foot from JR Mitake Station on the Ōme Line: cross the main road outside the station and the entrance is right there. Most visitors change at Ōme Station for a train toward Okutama. The tourism association notes that parking is available.

For the best view of the buildings as a group, walk down to the Tama River and look back at the bluff. The way the guest wings step down the cliff is far easier to read from the riverbank than from inside the grounds.