The Rokusoan teahouse at the Tokyo National Museum

Why it is on the list

Rokusoan was built in the Keian era at Jigen'in, a sub-temple of Kofukuji in Nara, in the manner of the tea master Kanamori Sowa, and was counted one of the three great teahouses of the Yamato region.¹ The museum bought it in 1875. The ship carrying it sank off the Izu Peninsula; the timber was recovered and the house rebuilt in 1877, and after wartime evacuation the sukiya carpenter Kimura Seibei rebuilt it where it stands in 1947.¹ It is thatched, with a daime tea room of three mats, a two-mat anteroom, a waiting room, a covered bench, stone lanterns and a double roji; the stone basin at its entrance was cut from the body of a pagoda raised at Hosshoji in 925.¹²

It holds 5 to 10.² For up to about 20, ask instead for Tengoan, the teahouse Kobori Enshu built in Fushimi; for 20 to 30, Kujokan, two ten-mat rooms from the Kujo residence in the Kyoto palace grounds. A gathering of several hundred can take all five teahouses in the garden.² Okyokan, with the Maruyama Okyo room, is not being let at present.²

How to get it

Write to the museum's facilities office (General Affairs, venue rental) at kashidashi_tnm@nich.go.jp or call +81 3 3822 1111 and ask for Rokusoan on your date; a viewing beforehand can be arranged.² A provisional booking opens on the first day of the month six months ahead and runs to the day before. The booking is confirmed once the museum approves a written application form, sent by fax or email, and payment is by bank transfer against an invoice afterwards.² The day runs 9:30 to 16:00, setting up and clearing included. Rokusoan costs JPY 60,000 on a weekday and JPY 70,000 at weekends and on holidays, tax and utilities included.² A cancellation after 17:00 on the previous business day is charged in full, unless weather or a similar outside cause forces it.²

The teahouse is let as it stands, with the museum's list of tea equipment; the host brings the catering and any lighting. If the teahouse is free the day before, an hour from 16:00 to 17:00 can be used to lay out utensils at no charge. No open flame indoors without the museum's agreement, and no smoking inside.²

Discretion

Guests come and go by the West Gate, not the main gate where visitors queue for tickets and security screening.²³ The museum asks every guest to wear a ribbon or badge, described or sent to its staff in advance; parking inside is allowed only for the host, by arrangement.²