Back to buildersPurveyor to Daitoku-ji temple, with global work including a tea house built in Paris.
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Source: sukiya-kyoto.com
Founded in 1909 at the foot of Funaokayama in Kyoto, the firm ran a timber business before becoming a builder; the current president is the fourth generation of the construction company.
As an appointed builder to Daitoku-ji, it designs, builds and maintains tea rooms and sukiya buildings, temples and shrines, machiya and wooden houses. Recently it has built a tea room in Paris and collaborated with overseas architects.
Besides new tea rooms, it makes replicas of National Treasure tea rooms, fits tea rooms inside houses and apartments, and relocates existing ones. It works mainly in Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara and Shiga, as well as Tokyo, Kyushu and abroad; first consultations and site visits are free within the Kansai area.
A tea room set inside an 18th-century apartment. Space was tight, so the side of the alcove holds tea utensils; the alcove post is bark-on red pine and a pine board floor without a front rail gives it depth. A Kitayama log over 5 m long was shipped from Japan for the eave beam, and a paper-hanging craftsman was brought to Paris for the shoji and wainscot paper.
View on official site ↗Renovation of a leak-damaged tea room in a residential garden. Naturally rusted jurakudo clay walls were kept wherever possible, and the modern ceiling over the host's mat was replaced with a cattail ceiling. The roof was renewed in tile and flat-seam copper, with the eave set back to clear the trunk of a crape myrtle.
View on official site ↗
A tea room built as a separate building from the client's house. Blinds were later added to the lattice window above the crawl-in entrance and to the noble's entrance; the client's care has kept it in fine condition over the years.
View on official site ↗
A single-storey villa in the heart of Gion with a six-mat tea room for receiving guests. A tatami corridor leads to a Japanese room and the tea room, with details such as a woven wicker ceiling.
View on official site ↗
A storeroom on the top floor of a building designed by Togo Murano, converted into a tea room. The tight space called for a design of leaving things out and accepting what was there, with a lattice window beside the alcove and a bush-clover ceiling. It is used for tea classes and as a rental tea room.
View on official site ↗
A four-and-a-half-mat tea room in the company office, with wicker and sloping ceilings, a bark-on red pine alcove post, a crawl-in entrance with lattice window, and drum-style doors in Kyoto karakami paper; a small light above the host's mat adds atmosphere.
View on official site ↗
A new tea room at a Rinzai Nanzen-ji school temple known for its autumn leaves, with a crawl-in entrance, noble's entrance, sloping ceiling and preparation room.
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A new small tea room modelled on the National Treasure Joan, together with a larger room with its alcove facing the entrance.
View on official site ↗Photos: Yamanaka Komuten official website
The firm sees a tea room as a stage rather than the star: the host and guests are the leading players, and the building is only complete once tea is served in it.
Light matters too: with the alcove facing north, the entrances face south or east, and eave depth and blinds are used to tune the light.
Where an ordinary house has ceilings of 2,400–2,500 mm, the firm considers 1,800–1,900 mm right for a tea room. The host's side is lower and plainer, the guests' side higher, expressing hospitality through height and material.
Q. How much does a tea room cost? / A. About 3–5 times an ordinary house, roughly ¥5 million per tsubo as a guide, depending on size and specification.
Q. Can a room in an apartment be made into a tea room? / A. Yes; the firm has built tea rooms inside buildings. Visits to completed tea rooms can be arranged.
Q. What do consultations cost? / A. First consultations and site visits are free within Kansai. A drawn proposal costs ¥30,000, and design fees are within 10% of construction cost.
A portable tea house built from the minimum of bamboo, with posts and a roof but no ceiling or walls. It can be set up anywhere with 3 m × 3 m of space, and has hosted tea gatherings on a sandbar of the Kamo River and at Yuhigaura.
Photos: Yamanaka Komuten official website
| Company | Yamanaka Construction Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Address | 21 Higashifunaoka-cho, Murasakino, Kita Ward, Kyoto 603-8228 |
| Founded | 1909 |
| Representative | Tetsuro Yamanaka, President |
| Business | Design and construction of temples and shrines, tea rooms, houses and shops; renovation of machiya and old houses |
| Licenses | Construction license, Kyoto Governor (General-4) No. 3250 |
| Phone | +81-75-441-0151 |
| Fax | +81-75-414-0091 |
| Specialty | Appointed builder to Daitoku-ji; tea-room work in Paris |
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