About the Yatagai Family Residence Tea House
The Yatagai Family Residence Tea House (矢田貝家住宅茶室, Yatagai-ke Jūtaku Chashitsu) is a tea house of the early Shōwa period in the tea garden of the Yatagai Family Residence in Kamihosomi, Hōki Town, Tottori Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2011.
It is known as Kanpū-an (観楓庵). The Yatagai Family Residence Tea House stands across the Roji from the Annex. It is a single-story building of 6.4 m by 3.6 m, with a building area of 18 square meters and a hipped Yosemune-zukuri roof of sheet metal, ringed by a deep earthen eave. Inside, two tea rooms of two mats and four and a half mats sit east and west of a preparation room, a Mizuya, half a bay wide. Tottori Prefecture describes the same arrangement, with the mizuya at the center and a tea room on either side.
Putting two tea rooms in one building is a very different idea from the single tea room of four and a half mats plus a three-quarter mat in the Annex attached to the Main House.
Why the Yatagai Tea House was registered
The Yatagai Family Residence Tea House was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes the bark-covered timber used to dress the alcove and calls it a tea house of distinctive form with a rustic touch.
The national database dates it to the early Shōwa period, with repairs in 1988. The diary of the fourth head of the family, studied by Fujiki Tatsuya and Tanaka Hiroo, shows that the tea house was bought from another family, the Itō household, and rebuilt on the estate. Work on the former Itō tea room began on April 9, 1938; the frame went up on April 18; and on October 16 the family took tea in the new room. On February 5, 1939, he named it Kanpū-an.
Fujiki traces the name to Kangetsu-an, a tea house at the temple Fumon-in in Matsue, which the fourth head went to see on September 10, 1938. Kangetsu-an also pairs a two-mat room with a wooden floor board and a four-and-a-half-mat room, and Fujiki regards the Yatagai Tea House as a copy of it.
What to look for in the Yatagai Tea House
Fujiki's paper sets out how the two rooms differ. The eastern room is two mats with a wooden floor board alongside, a hearth cut into the corner and an alcove recessed in a cave-like form. The western room is four and a half mats, with the hearth cut in the standard four-and-a-half-mat position. The mizuya lies between them. The small room recalls the two-mat Taian, the large one the Yūin, both famous tea rooms linked to Sen no Rikyū and his descendants, and the timber left with its natural rounded edges and knots gives the whole a rustic, Rikyū-style character.
Compared with the tea room in the Annex, which follows the taste of Kobori Enshū, the Yatagai Tea House puts the character of plain, natural materials forward. Within about five years the same head of the family built two tea rooms of quite different temperament.
The roof is now a hipped roof of standing-seam metal. When the tea house was finished it was tiled, and the eave was of wooden shingles. The sources differ on where the eave runs: the Agency for Cultural Affairs puts it on the south and east, while Fujiki describes it wrapping from the east around to the north.
The diary shows how the tea house was used. Tanaka finds that Kanpū-an was where close friends and relatives were invited for tea, and that once it was built, entries about drinking sencha appear almost daily. Fujiki suggests that having two rooms is why work on the interior, such as a woven wicker ceiling and plastering, continued after completion.
Visiting the Yatagai Family Residence Tea House
The Yatagai Family Residence Tea House is privately owned and is not regularly open. It stands deep in the tea garden inside the Middle Gate and cannot be seen from National Route 181. We found no notice that visitors can reach the tea garden or the tea house even on days when the house is open, and no photography policy is published. Directions and visiting conditions for the estate are on the Yatagai Family Residence page.
Q&A
- Why is the Yatagai Family Residence Tea House called Kanpū-an?
- The fourth head of the family named it on February 5, 1939. Research links the name to Kangetsu-an, a tea house at Fumon-in temple in Matsue that he had visited the year before, which also pairs a two-mat and a four-and-a-half-mat room.
- When was the Yatagai Family Residence Tea House built?
- The national database gives the early Shōwa period. According to the family diary, a tea room bought from the Itō household was rebuilt on the estate from April 1938 and in use by that October. It was repaired in 1988.
- How big is the Yatagai Tea House, and how is it laid out?
- It is a single-story building of 6.4 m by 3.6 m, with a building area of 18 square meters. A preparation room half a bay wide sits between a two-mat room with a wooden floor board on the east and a four-and-a-half-mat room on the west.
- Why is the Yatagai Family Residence Tea House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on July 25, 2011, for its contribution to the historic landscape. It is valued as a tea house of distinctive form, with bark-covered timber in the alcove giving it a rustic touch.
- Can I visit the Yatagai Tea House?
- It is privately owned and not regularly open, and it stands deep in the tea garden where it cannot be seen from the road. Ask the Hōki Town Board of Education lifelong learning office before visiting.
Basic Information
| Name | Yatagai Family Residence Tea House (Kanpū-an) |
|---|---|
| Location | 486 Kamihosomi and other lots, Hōki Town, Saihaku District, Tottori Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered July 25, 2011 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 6.4 m × 3.6 m in plan; building area 18 m² |
| Owner | Private (no owner named in the national database) |
| Public Access | Not regularly open; stands in the tea garden and cannot be seen from the road |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Yatagai Family Residence Tea House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008756
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yatagai Family Residence Tea House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/161567
- Tottori Bunkazai Navi (Tottori Prefecture Cultural Properties Division): Yatagai Family Residence
- https://db.pref.tottori.jp/bunkazainavi.nsf/bunkazai_web_view/117213810028FEE749257C5A00296E73
- Fujiki Tatsuya, "The Yatagai Family Residence as Revealed Through Kaso Diagrams and Diaries," Studies of San'in Region Extra Issue 2 (Shimane University, 2026)
- https://ir.lib.shimane-u.ac.jp/55741
- Tanaka Hiroo, "A Modern Village Landlord's Garden-Making Record," Studies of San'in Region Extra Issue 2 (Shimane University, 2026)
- https://ir.lib.shimane-u.ac.jp/55742
Last verified: 2026.10.07
