Ota Family Residence Shindate Annex

A Guest Wing for a Zen Prelate

The Ota Family Residence Shindate Annex (太田家住宅新建) is a detached reception wing of 1933 in Tomieda, Yazu Town, Tottori Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on June 28, 2017 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building roofed in tile, with a building area of 73 square metres; registration number 31-0227.

Shindate, literally the new building, is the name of this wing, which is joined to the main house by a corridor (Tottori Prefecture; Yazu Town Tourism Association).

Built to Receive the Head of the Soto School

Tottori Prefecture says the Ota Family Residence Shindate Annex was built in 1933 to receive the kancho, the chief prelate, of the Soto school of Zen. The family's own account dates it to 1932 or 1933.

It is a single-storey timber wing joined to the west end of the main house's rear side, under a tiled hip-and-gable roof (Sangawara-buki) with a lean-to eave (Geya) all round (Agency for Cultural Affairs). From the north, an eight-mat reception room, a four-mat room and a six-mat room stand in a row, with a broad veranda on the north, east and south sides.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency points to the alcove with its built-in desk (Tsukeshoin), the generous ceiling height and the wide use of cypress, cedar and pine, and calls the Shindate a high-quality detached wing; it was registered as a model of design.

Tottori Prefecture contrasts its plain, unfinished timber with the lacquered surfaces of the main house.

What to Look For

Look at the alcove of the eight-mat room and the broad veranda that wraps three sides. Set the bare wood here beside the lacquered gloss of the main house and the different temper of the two sets of rooms is plain.

The ridge-end tiles (Onigawara) carry the Ota family crest, a bellflower in a square with indented corners, and push forward a round tomoe-patterned tile, a form often seen in the Inaba region (Ota-tei).

Visiting

The Shindate Annex is part of the inn, and only overnight guests and renters of the rooms go inside. The prefectural case study presents it as an early Showa wing of three rooms in a row.

No official guidance on photography was found.