A Sendai builder that says it has built many tea rooms for the Enshū, Omotesenke and Urasenke schools.
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Source: kesennumakoumuten.com
Kesennuma Komuten was founded in Sendai in 1972 by Sato (佐藤良昭), a Kesennuma native who apprenticed at 15 under a Kesen master carpenter and set up the firm at 27. The company says he encountered sukiya architecture in 1975 and learned the sukiya and tea-room techniques and design of the late Kansai master builder Hirata Masaya (平田雅哉) while working on many of his projects.
The website treats tea rooms and sukiya as a department separate from housing, and says the firm has built many tea rooms for the Enshū, Omotesenke and Urasenke schools. It combines the Kesen carpentry tradition with Kyoto traditional building, insists on fine timber, and also builds copies of National Treasure buildings, notably a replica of the National Treasure tea room Joan inside a house (2.5 Kyoto-size mats plus daime, completed 2006). The current president (佐藤和容) studied at a Japanese architecture college and trained as a carpenter at Takeda Komuten in Kyoto.
The master carpenter oversees design, construction, supervision and aftercare, and the portfolio includes single-storey sukiya houses, a detached tatami annex and modern sukiya homes. A natural choice in Tōhoku for a serious tea room or sukiya home.
A copy of Oda Uraku's Jo-an inside a house (2.5 Kyoto-size mats plus daime) for a history-loving client. Features include calendar-paper wainscot, a triangular uroko-ita board that eases serving, a cusped window cut in the board by the central post, and windows all of different heights and sizes.
View on official site ↗
A single-storey house (125.18 m²) for a couple whose Iwate home was lost to the tsunami: a barrier-free 2LDK planned for wheelchair use, with the tiled roof they wanted backed by ample seismic strength and damping hardware.
View on official site ↗
Rebuild of a plastering-company president's flood-damaged home as a single storey (110.96 m²). The client did the plastering himself; tiled 4.5-sun-pitch roof, exposed rafters at the eaves, and a living room with exposed beams, bold rod ceiling and cedar wainscot.
View on official site ↗
A detached six-mat room with storage and veranda built as a retreat for the client's wife. Fusuma backed by lattice doors protect against the dog; the veranda has a sloping kakekomi ceiling, and a shoin-style bay window with cusped window and tokonoma. Used for reading, tea and guests.
View on official site ↗
A single-storey house (91.50 m²) south of Kashima Shrine. A local builder constructed it while Kesennuma handled design, material selection and some finishing: bold rod ceiling with reed kakekomi ceiling, deep exposed-rafter eaves, Japanese detailing even in wet areas, and a lacquered hinoki bathtub.
View on official site ↗
A two-storey timber house (85.28 m²) for a single client wanting a secure, Western-mansion feel in Japanese style. It uses a 1.5 m level change on the site and has a double-height LDK with a remote-work space; insulation grade 5, seismic grade 3, certified long-life housing.
View on official site ↗Photos: Kesennuma Komuten official website
The company explains that 'suki' in sukiya came to be written as 'liking', meaning devotion to something, and calls houses built around the owner's lifestyle and taste 'sukiya modern'.
Since the same drawings yield different results depending on the carpenter's skill, it promises proposals, design and quality materials fitted to budget and way of life.
Noting more tea rooms and tatami reception rooms being fitted into offices and apartments, the company designs and builds tea rooms to order, reflecting the client's wishes in materials and finishes.
Temple and shrine work needs carpenters who know materials and techniques beyond mass-produced timber; besides new builds the company handles renovation, relocation, seismic reinforcement and repair, with examples at Warei Shrine and Dainen-ji in Aoba-ku.
For homes it takes jobs of any size: leaks, clogged drains, sign installation, decks and canopies, exterior work and bulky-waste disposal.
Photos: Kesennuma Komuten official website
| Company | Kesennuma Komuten Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Address | 4-2-15 Tsurugaoka, Izumi-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 981-3109 |
| Founded | July 1972 |
| Representative | 佐藤和容 (Sato), President from 2026; 佐藤良昭 (Sato), Chairman |
| Business | Custom homes, sukiya houses, tea rooms, shops, old-house restoration, renovation, seismic retrofit, exterior and gardens |
| Licenses | First-class architect office; construction license Miyagi Governor (general-19) No. 7819 |
| Phone | +81-22-372-1020 |
| Capital | ¥10 million |
| History | Founded July 1972 in Sendai as a limited company; changed to a stock company in 1992 |
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