Rokusoan Teahouse
(Rokusoan)

The Rokusoan teahouse in the garden of the Tokyo National Museum was built in Nara in the 17th century and became renowned as one of the most outstanding Nara teahouses on account of its aesthetic quality. It was then rescued for transfer to the National Museum in Tokyo in the second half of the 19th century after it had begun to fall into a state of disrepair. The teahouse was dismantled and shipped by sea only to run into a storm. The ship was wrecked but it is said that the pieces of the teahouse were somehow retrieved and reassembled. It was dismantled again to avoid the flames of the air raids in the Second World War and rebuilt after the war was over. The teahouse is small and has an extremely simple structure but, in Sado, Japan’s distinctive traditional Way of Tea, a teahouse is a special space where the host and guests can simply relax, heart-to-heart, over a bowl of tea. The sensibilities of the person who built it can be felt in each fine detail and many such teahouses are passed down and treasured over the generations.