0
0

Our Architectural Works #5

Japanese traditional house in rural Chiba

In the hills of Chiba, a genuine Japanese house that held decades of handwork — long left unfinished, now quietly reborn as a place to stay, with a tea house at its heart.

Carved peony ornament and clay-tiled eaves on the gable of a restored farmhouse

This genuine old house stands in the hills of Sanmu, in Chiba.
More than forty years old, it was shaped by craftsmen who spent some six years on its roof, rafters, beams and fine carvings — their care still legible overhead.
Long left unfinished, it was kept alive by the owner's lasting wish to preserve it, and has now been renovated into a place to stay with a tea house.
Modern comforts are woven in with restraint.
A detached chashitsu floats above a dry garden of stepping stones, while coffered ceilings, carved transoms and linked tatami rooms open, through shoji, to the green outside.

Tea house glowing at dusk above a dry garden, the chashitsu seen at blue hour

The Chashitus, tea house at dusk

As night falls, light settles into the detached tea house beyond the dry garden's stepping stones.
Between the deep eaves and the shoji, only stillness remains.

Cedar coffered ceiling with circular floral motifs, a refined detail of Japanese architecture

A coffered ceiling of floral motifs

Each coffer of cedar carries a circular floral motif, burnt and carved by hand.
The work of the original craftsmen answers the eye differently with every glance.

Granite path through a hedge gate and beside an aged tree, leading to the old house

Old tree and stone approach

Past the hedge gate, a granite path runs beside a great aged tree toward the house — tracing a forty-year wish to keep this old house standing.

View from the chashitsu deck across the garden toward a distant earthen storehouse

A tea space "Chashitsu" open to the garden

From the floating deck, with the shoji drawn back, the garden and a distant storehouse open out beyond the tea utensils. Inside and out become a single view.

  • Granite path through a hedge gate and beside an aged tree, leading to the old house
  • Restored old house with a detached tea pavilion set below a bamboo-covered hillside
  • Detached chashitsu opening through shoji onto a dry garden with stepping stones
  • Carved peony ornament and clay-tiled eaves on the gable of a restored farmhouse
  • Tea house glowing at dusk above a dry garden, the chashitsu seen at blue hour
  • Built-in staggered shelves and a carved transom beside tatami, fine joinery of Japanese architecture
  • View from the chashitsu deck across the garden toward a distant earthen storehouse
  • Corner of the tea pavilion with deep eaves, a floating deck and a dry stone garden
  • Linked rooms divided by checkered-pattern fusuma, opening through to further tatami
  • Cedar coffered ceiling with circular floral motifs, a refined detail of Japanese architecture
  • Timber corridor and a raised tatami room under exposed beams, a flowing plan of Japanese architecture
  • Inner courtyard of cedar-boarded walls and stepping stones, quiet Japanese architecture
  • Decorative cedar fittings with a folding-fan transom and a pierced sailboat panel
  • Tiled entrance floor
  • Linked tatami rooms opened into a single hall, framed by shoji and a high timber ceiling
  • Tatami room with built-in shelving and shoji, looking through toward the kitchen
  • Tea pavilion wing with a hanging scroll, utensils and a round paper lantern along the corridor
  • Tea utensils - a ceramic brazier, water jar, bamboo ladle and tea bowl - arranged in sunlight

Architect & Art

Craft & Art

OUR BRAND & INFO.

Legal Notices

wanova

©︎ WANOVA / SATOYAMA Marketing Office Ltd.
Roppongi, TOKYO