10 of our 29 listings are in the Kansai region, most of them in Kyoto. Daitoku-ji, the Kyoto State Guest House, Katsura, museums in Paris — the facts of what they've actually built.
10 of the 29 companies listed on CHASHITSU TOKYO are based in the Kansai region (8 in Kanto, 3 in Chubu, 3 in Tohoku, 1 in Kyushu, 4 overseas) — and most of those 10 are in Kyoto. It is no accident that Kyoto names line up when you set out to build a tea room.
This piece lists only what these companies have actually built — not praise. When choosing, that is the surest material you have.
[Nakamura Sotoji Komuten (Kyoto, founded 1931)] A distinguished sukiya house that has worked on tea rooms, ryotei, museums and private residences, in Japan and abroad.
[Yamanaka Komuten (Kyoto, founded 1909)] Purveyor to Daitoku-ji, with overseas work including tea room construction in Paris.
[Yamamoto Kogyo (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto)] Handles survey, design, construction and maintenance as one. Its work includes the tea room Kōshun-an at Daitoku-ji Obai-in (1998), the ceiling of the Kiri-no-ma at the Kyoto State Guest House (2004), and the tea room Kohaku at the Guimet Museum in Paris (2001).
[Yamasho (Ukyo-ku, Kyoto)] Builds and renovates, from small rooms to large. Its strength is work that lets the timber speak, and it has shown abroad, including in Paris.
[Matsubun Shoten (Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto)] A specialist in fine timber and sukiya materials that also builds. It has supplied the Kyoto State Guest House, the Katsura Imperial Villa, the restoration of Ninna-ji's Shorin-an, and the Nakanoshima Kosetsu Museum of Art.
[Yasuimoku Komuten (Mukō, Kyoto; founding dated to 1688)] Shrine carpenters to the temples and shrines of the western hills for generations. Its work includes moving the National Treasure tea room Joan to Inuyama (1971), conserving the National Treasure Taian (1977), and conserving Shūsui-tei in Kyoto Gyoen (1984).
[Noguchi Komuten (Nishikyō, Kyoto; founded 1970)] Works on historic buildings and sukiya houses. Its record includes dismantling and repairing the Seiren-tei tea room at Tōji-in and repairs to Tōun-an at Gyokurin-in in Daitoku-ji.
[D Architects (Kyoto)] A design office behind Seikō-an, a two-mat contemporary kit tea room — a modern room that needs no major construction.
[Millième (Kyoto)] Supplies kit-built tea rooms that go up quickly. It is one of the few companies to publish prices: ¥4,180,000 including tax for a four-and-a-half-mat room (delivery extra), ¥3,300,000 for a two-mat room.
Set out like this, the range within 'Kyoto tea room companies' becomes clear — from houses that have stacked up decades of bespoke work to a company that publishes prices and sells kits. A firm that has worked on Daitoku-ji or an imperial villa is not automatically the right call for a small practice room, and the reverse is just as true.
Beyond Kyoto there are companies in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Gifu, Aichi, Yamanashi and Miyagi, and in the Netherlands and the United States. Filter by region, and compare track records against price bands.
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