Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai (Waiting Bench)

What Is the Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai?

The Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai (Waiting Bench) (加田家住宅腰掛待合, Kada-ke Jūtaku Koshikake Machiai) is a small roofed Koshikake-machiai in the tea garden of a residence in Yabu-no-cho, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, built in the early Showa period and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2007.

A koshikake machiai is a covered bench where guests invited to a tea gathering sit and wait for the host to come and greet them. The Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai stands partway along the Roji garden path from the main house to the tea house, on slightly raised ground. It is a one-storey wooden structure 3 meters by 2 meters, with a building area of 6.7 m² and a privy at the back.

Why the Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai Was Registered

The Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape, under registration number 30-0106.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it an important element of the tea garden. A tea room alone does not make a setting for tea: guests need a garden approach with a waiting place and a gate. Here the waiting bench and the Roji Gate survive together with the tea house, so the whole sequence of an early Showa tea garden is still in place.

What to Look for at the Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai

The roof is a Kirizuma-zukuri gable of Sangawara-buki tile, and according to the Agency the eaves use ichimonji tiles, whose lower edges line up in a perfectly straight row. The small front Hisashi is roofed in copper.

The front is the bench itself, with a Shitaji-mado window that leaves its bamboo lattice exposed. The back holds the privy, so the bench and the privy sit back to back under one roof.

The materials repay attention. Posts, beams and rafters of the Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai are all unsquared logs rather than sawn timber, and the walls are left at the intermediate coat of clay plaster instead of receiving a final finish. It is the plain, rustic treatment expected of a tea garden building.

Visiting the Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai

The Kada Family Residence Koshikake Machiai stands in the inner garden of a private home, between the main house and the tea house, and is not open to the public. It cannot be seen from the street. Directions to the residence are on the page for the Kada Family Residence.