Karakasa-tei & Shigure-tei

Two tea houses on the hill at the eastern side of Kōdai-ji's grounds, together designated an Important Cultural Property in 1936 as "Kōdai-ji Karakasa-tei (Ankankutsu) and Shigure-tei." According to Kyoto Prefecture, both are said to have been built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at Fushimi Castle and later moved here. Karakasa-tei was formerly called Ankankutsu, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a tea house in the taste of Sen no Rikyū.

Karakasa-tei has a pyramidal thatched roof; inside, its exposed bamboo rafters and laths radiate outward, described in an old guidebook as "like an opened umbrella" — hence the name. The interior is a single room of about eight mats, with a raised one-mat platform facing the earthen entry.

Shigure-tei is a two-storey tea house joined to Karakasa-tei by an open earthen-floored passage. Its upper room opens wide on three sides with push-up shutters to take in the view, and a round window at the centre of the lower alcove brings the scenery inside in place of a hanging scroll.

Both can be seen while walking the grounds on a regular Kōdai-ji visit; a special night viewing is also held in autumn.