Former Hotta Kojoen

A 1933 Restaurant Inn on a Warlord's Doorstep

Former Hotta Kojoen (旧堀田古城園, Kyū-Hotta Kojōen) is a group of timber buildings in Ote, Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, that opened in 1933 as a ryotei restaurant with guest rooms, and six of its structures were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on February 4, 2021.

The six are the main house, a north annex, a south annex, a tea house, a long row building and the kido gate at the street. They stand inside the protected area of the Takeda Clan Residence Site, the compound where the warlords Takeda Nobutora, Shingen and Katsuyori governed Kai Province, designated a national Historic Site in 1938. The restaurant's name nods to its neighbour: kojo means old castle, and Kofu City says the owners chose it with the Takeda residence in mind.

The business began as a kappo restaurant. According to the architects who later restored the buildings, the premises housed army officers during the war, reopened afterward as an inn, and eventually became a private home before the family donated them to the city. Kofu lost much of its building stock in wartime bombing, which makes this intact set of prewar Japanese-style buildings unusual in the city.

Kofu City folded the buildings into its guidance centre for the historic site, the Takeda Clan Residence Site History Museum, better known as the Shingen Museum, which opened on April 5, 2019. A new single-storey timber gallery sits alongside the old restaurant, and the national database records 2017 renovations to the north annex, the tea house and the row building.

How the Grounds Fit Together

The street front runs along the north edge of the lot. The kido gate holds the northwest corner, its lintel board still reading Hotta Kojoen, and the row building extends east from it.

Inside the gate, the main house spreads low under a hipped roof. Behind it, along the east edge, three small detached buildings line up from north to south: the north annex, the south annex and, in the southeast corner, the tea house. All three are single-storey with hipped roofs, and at a glance they look like triplets. The two annexes really are built to the same size and plan; the tea house alone is laid out on a rhombus.

A sensible circuit follows the path a dinner guest might have taken. Look at the gate and row building from the street, step through, walk around to the garden side of the main house, then work down the east edge from north to south. During the restoration the existing trees were pruned or removed to bring the garden back toward a Showa-era residential layout.

Each of the six buildings has its own page describing its structure and details.

Visiting and Getting There

Former Hotta Kojoen is open as part of the museum, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It closes on Tuesdays (or the following day when Tuesday is a public holiday), with occasional extra openings and closures. The museum stays open daily through part of the summer school holidays, though the dates change from year to year.

Visitors can walk the garden and view the exteriors freely. Going inside requires a permit: book ahead or ask on the day at the information desk, collect the pass, and keep the visit to 1 hour at most. The row building serves food and drink, and the main house hosts lectures and workshops.

The only charge the city lists is for the museum's special exhibition room, 300 yen for adults and free for high school students and younger. Official information does not mention photography rules, so ask when you apply for an interior visit if you want to take pictures inside.

From the north exit of JR Kofu Station, take a Yamanashi Kotsu bus bound for Takeda Jinja or Sekisuiji from stop 2 and get off at Takeda Jinja, about 8 minutes and 230 yen. The museum sits on the south side of Takeda Shrine, a short walk from the stop.

Drivers can use 4 spaces beside the museum or the 38-space lot for shrine visitors just to the north. Coaches park north of Aikawa Elementary School, west of the shrine. Parking is free.