Tokoen Main Building

Tokoen Main Building: A Masterpiece of Metabolism Architecture in Kaike Onsen

Standing boldly against the shores of the Sea of Japan in Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture, the Tokoen Main Building — known as "Tendai" — is one of the most extraordinary hotel structures in all of Japan. Completed in 1964, this seven-story reinforced steel-frame concrete building was designed by the visionary architect Kikutake Kiyonori (1928–2011), a founding member of Japan's internationally acclaimed Metabolism architectural movement. In 2017, the Tokoen Main Building was officially registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property, recognizing its outstanding value as a landmark of postwar Japanese modernism.

What makes the Tokoen Main Building truly remarkable is not merely its age or historical significance, but the fact that it remains a working hotel. Guests can actually stay inside this living cultural property, sleeping in rooms suspended in mid-air by an innovative structural system that has no parallel anywhere else in the world. It is, quite simply, a building you can experience with all your senses — architecture that you can inhabit.

Historical Background: The Birth of a Metabolist Vision

The story of the Tokoen Main Building begins in the early 1960s, a period of extraordinary creative energy in Japanese architecture. In 1960, a group of young architects and designers — including Kikutake Kiyonori, Kurokawa Kisho, Maki Fumihiko, Otaka Masato, and critic Kawazoe Noboru — launched the Metabolism movement at the World Design Conference in Tokyo. Inspired by biological processes of cellular renewal and growth, they proposed an architecture that could adapt, expand, and transform in response to the changing needs of society.

Kikutake was already gaining recognition for his daring residential design, the Sky House (1958), which elevated a living space on four concrete pillars above the ground. When the owners of a hot spring inn at Kaike Onsen in Tottori Prefecture commissioned a new main building, Kikutake seized the opportunity to push his architectural vision to monumental scale. Completed in the same year as the Tokyo Olympics, the Tokoen Main Building would become widely regarded as the culmination of Metabolism architecture — a full-scale realization of the movement's ideals in a functioning hospitality building.

Notably, the sculptor Nagare Masayuki, an internationally renowned artist, was responsible for designing the hotel's gardens. Nagare had originally introduced the Tokoen owners to Kikutake, creating a collaboration between architecture and garden art that remains integral to the property's identity.

Why It Was Designated a Cultural Property

The Tokoen Main Building was registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 27, 2017. The designation recognizes the building as a masterwork of Metabolism architecture and a representative example of postwar Japanese modernism in the San'in region.

The official registration statement highlights several key factors. The building employs an unprecedented suspended structural system in which six main columns support the seventh floor, from which the fifth and sixth floors are hung — creating guest rooms that literally float in the air. Each floor achieves a different plan layout thanks to this structural innovation. The staircase sections and column details display exceptional structural design throughout. The Agency for Cultural Affairs recognized the Tokoen as the culmination of Metabolism architecture, embodying the 1960s movement's vision of buildings as living, adaptable organisms.

The designation also acknowledges the building's cultural significance as a rare surviving example of Kikutake's early work. Many of his most celebrated buildings, including the Administrative Building of Izumo Grand Shrine and the Expo Tower, have been demolished, making the Tokoen an increasingly precious architectural document.

Architectural Highlights and Points of Interest

The Revolutionary "Double Pilotis" Structure

The Tokoen Main Building is believed to be the world's first and only example of a "double pilotis" structure. The building rises from the ground conventionally through the first three floors. The fourth floor, however, opens up as a pilotis level — an elevated open space that serves as an aerial garden. Above this void, the fifth and sixth floors are suspended from massive prestressed concrete beams at the seventh-floor level. The result is a building that appears to defy gravity, with its upper guest rooms hanging in mid-air like a floating temple.

Columns Inspired by Shrine Architecture

Six main columns rise from the ground to support the giant beam at the seventh floor. Each main column is reinforced by three subsidiary columns, connected by horizontal penetrating ties — a structural motif directly inspired by the great torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima. Some scholars have also suggested a connection to the central heart pillar of Izumo Grand Shrine. These compound columns penetrate the two-story lobby space, creating an interior atmosphere that feels simultaneously modern and sacred.

The Sky Garden

The fourth floor features an open-air garden suspended between the lower conventional floors and the upper hanging rooms. From this aerial garden, guests can enjoy panoramic views of both Mount Daisen — the highest peak in the Chugoku region, often called "Hoki Fuji" for its resemblance to Mount Fuji — and the vast expanse of the Sea of Japan. The sky garden embodies Kikutake's concept of integrating nature into the built environment at every level.

The Seven Gardens by Nagare Masayuki

The hotel's grounds feature seven distinct gardens collectively known as the "Seven Gardens of Tokoen," designed by the celebrated sculptor Nagare Masayuki. These include the main "Tendai Garden," the aerial "Garden of Wind," as well as the "Garden of Abandonment," "Garden of the Village," "Garden of the Castle Wall," "Garden of Clouds," and "Garden of Dyeing." Several of these gardens can be viewed from the hotel's bathing facilities, creating a seamless fusion of architecture, art, and nature.

The Lobby Experience

Upon entering the hotel, guests are immediately struck by the dramatic two-story lobby space. The massive compound columns rise through the open interior, creating an atmosphere that visitors frequently compare to entering a great temple or shrine — yet rendered entirely in reinforced concrete. The contrast between the raw structural power of the columns and the welcoming warmth of the hot spring hotel creates an unforgettable first impression.

Kikutake Kiyonori: The Architect Behind the Vision

Kikutake Kiyonori (1928–2011) was one of the most influential Japanese architects of the twentieth century. Born in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, he graduated from Waseda University's Department of Architecture in 1950 and established his own firm in 1953. His career spanned over five decades, producing landmark works including the Edo-Tokyo Museum (1992), the Kyushu National Museum (2004), and the Expo Tower for the 1970 Osaka World Exposition.

In 2000, Kikutake was selected as one of the "100 World Architects Who Created This Century" at the Yugoslavia Biennale. His office trained many architects who went on to achieve international fame, most notably Ito Toyo, who has described the Tokoen as the building that inspired him to pursue architecture. Ito recalled that visiting the construction site of the Tokoen in 1964 was a life-changing experience, and that the sensation of standing on a suspended floor was fundamentally different from standing on a conventionally supported one.

Kaike Onsen: The Hot Spring Resort

Kaike Onsen is one of the leading hot spring resorts along the Sea of Japan coast, located in Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture. The area has been welcoming visitors since the early twentieth century, and is known for its unique position where the hot springs meet the ocean shore. The Tokoen is distinctive among Kaike Onsen properties for being the only inn in the area with alkaline spring water, which is prized for its skin-beautifying properties.

The hot spring baths at Tokoen include both indoor and outdoor facilities, with two varieties of bathing experiences. The mildly alkaline waters are particularly popular among visitors seeking their reputed benefits for skin health, and the stone compositions in the bathing areas reflect Nagare Masayuki's sculptural aesthetic.

Visitor Information

The Tokoen is located approximately 15 minutes by car or 25 minutes by bus from JR Yonago Station. Visitors should note that the hotel has experienced periods of temporary closure for facility maintenance in recent years, so it is advisable to confirm current operating status before planning a visit. When open, the hotel offers both accommodation and day-use bathing options. The building's architectural gallery on the ground floor provides detailed panels explaining the building's design, Kikutake's career, and the cultural property registration.

For architecture enthusiasts, the most immersive way to experience the Tokoen is to book a room in the main building "Tendai" — specifically on the fifth or sixth floors, where guests can sleep in the suspended rooms and feel for themselves what architect Ito Toyo described as a fundamentally different spatial sensation.

Surrounding Attractions

The Tokoen's location in western Tottori Prefecture places it within easy reach of several outstanding destinations. Mount Daisen, a national park and popular hiking destination, offers stunning alpine scenery just 30 minutes away by car. The historic Yonago Castle ruins provide panoramic views of the city and the Sea of Japan. The Adachi Museum of Art, consistently ranked among Japan's finest gardens, is approximately 30 minutes east by car. And for fans of Japanese pop culture, the Mizuki Shigeru Road in Sakaiminato — a waterfront promenade lined with bronze statues of yokai characters from the famous manga — is about 40 minutes away by car from the hotel.