Hospitality that puts you at ease,
beauty that lets you unwind
-Part One-

Two of the best-known styles of traditional Japanese architecture are shoin-zukuri and sukiya-zukuri. Shoin-zukuri developed under the samurai-dominated social order of the Muromachi period (14^th century) and emphasizes order and formality. By contrast, sukiya-zukuri embodies the spirit of the tea ceremony. Setting aside rules and conventions, it focuses on comfort and closeness to nature, with attention to the character of the materials, and uses empty space as a design element.

While shoin-zukuri expresses stately dignity, sukiya-zukuri is the architecture of hospitality. The two are not so much opposites as reflections of different aspects of the Japanese ethos. In an age driven by the quest for efficiency, sukiya-zukuri is a soothing aesthetic that embraces nature, the seasons and human life.

Rather than using showy materials and techniques to create a sense of opulence, it makes a feature of materials with a naturally unique character and imperfections – such as timber with knots or warps – and incorporates air, light and shade into a space. Nakamura Sotoji Komuten continues this tradition and spirit.

Nakamura Sotoji Komuten is a design and construction firm specializing in sukiya-zukuri. Founded by Sotoji Nakamura in Kyoto in 1931, the company won acclaim for its tea houses and rooms, ryotei restaurants and private homes embodying the Japanese lifestyle and aesthetic. From the time of the Japan World Exposition in Osaka in 1970, Sotoji’s son Yoshiaki Nakamura worked on national projects such as the Kyoto Geihinkan state guest house, as well as old-established ryokan inns such as The Tawaraya, and ryotei such as Wakuden, and became renowned for bringing sukiya-zukuri into the modern age.

Today, Koji Nakamura, the founder’s grandson, has inherited this spirit. Building on traditional techniques and concepts, he continues to explore the potential of sukiya-zukuri.

We asked Koji to tell us more about the philosophy in traditional Japanese architecture that a building is not complete when construction finishes, but continues to gain character as it ages. “I was taught,” he said, “that half is in the construction, and half is in how you look after it over the years, and how it matures, so you have to take even the client’s future into consideration. I feel the essence of Japanese architecture is creating buildings that serve as vessels for human life.”
We were lucky enough to be shown around the company’s workshops by two architects, Koji himself and Hiroshi Yoshida, who supported Yoshiaki closely throughout the construction of the hotel.

Nakamura Sotoji Komuten’s workshops are near Daitoku-ji Buddhist temple, a short drive north from central Kyoto. When I visited with The Hiramatsu Kyoto’s chefs, the craftsmen, from young people in their 20s to veterans in their 70s, were working in silence; the only sound was of hand planes and chisels. On display in the workshop was an array of hard-to-come-by materials, including Kitayama maruta (unsawn logs from Kyoto’s Kitayama district) and large planks from mature trees. Ristorante la Luce’s head chef Takaumi Tsutsui was fascinated: “The way these craftsmen combine different materials to create a single product is something cooks can really relate to.”

One feature of the Nakamura approach to sukiya-zukuri is that Kitayama maruta are used not as tokobashira (the decorative pillar on one side of the tokonoma display space in a tea room) but for rafters or ceiling beams. The architect carefully considers how and where to use each piece, according to its thickness and curvature, and the character of any knots.

Heeding Sotoji Nakamura’s watchword that “you won’t get good results if you only start looking for timber after you draw up the blueprints”, the firm keeps a vast stock of materials at seven warehouses in and around Kyoto, measuring a total of over 6,600 square metres. Many pieces whose use is as yet undecided have been carefully stored for years, and their value is rising as quality materials get harder to come by.

A key part of any discussion of Nakamura Sotoji Komuten’s approach to the creation of architectural spaces is the relationship between sukiya-zukuri and Danish furniture. Sophisticated designs by famous names such as Finn Juhl, Hans J Wegner, combining outstanding materials and painstaking craftsmanship, fit perfectly with sukiya-zukuri buildings. In recent years, there has been growing interest Japanese-Western fusion – for instance matching Japanese interior design with Danish furniture – but the idea actually goes back to a style established some 40 years ago. In 1984 Yoshiaki Nakamura founded a separate home furnishings business on Nakamura Sotoji Komuten’s premises, under the name Kohseki.

The company sells a wide range of furniture and lighting personally selected by Yoshiaki, and its joinery department, headed by his son Koji, also makes original lamps whose refined designs are ideal for tea rooms and ryotei and have won praise from architects and designers. The Hiramatsu Kyoto embodies this style.

From the workshop, we moved to the hotel, where Koji and Hiroshi Yoshida treated us to a guided tour of the architectural highlights.

Nakamura Sotoji Komuten’s aim at The Hiramatsu Kyoto was to decipher and interpret the philosophy and traditions embodied in the traditional machiya townhouse and sensitively build in the functions of a modern hotel. A key principle of sukiya-zukuri is to prioritize existing structures over new. The additions to the existing building are designed to be as discreet as possible, ensuring that the character of the machiya remains to the fore. In particular, Nakamura Sotoji Komuten took care to preserve the omoteya (front house), which dates from the Meiji period, the kura storehouse and the hashiriniwa passageway, transforming these memories of the everyday life of past occupants into signature architectural features that make the hotel unique. “Lighting is important too, and lamps designed by Shozo Toyohisa completely transformed the atmosphere of the okudo-san (kitchen),” Hiroshi Yoshida told us.

The hotel has two gardens – the Wind Garden (Kaze no Niwa), featuring pine trees, and the Light Garden (Hikari no Niwa), planted with bamboo – which bring air and light into the hotel and draw the visitor’s gaze, creating a soothing sense of openness. Rather than treating buildings and gardens separately, dividing indoor from outdoor spaces, the idea is to take every aspect of the space into account, including how people move through it, and even the passage of time. This approach, known as teioku-ichinyo (unity of house and garden), creates a sense of peace and tranquility the moment you set foot in the hotel.

The Hiramatsu Kyoto’s Italian restaurant, Ristorante la Luce, looks out onto the Light Garden. Sunshine slanting through the bamboo grove gives a sense of vertical space and lightness which contrasts with the heavy construction of the machiya. In this space, dining and conversation converge naturally with Nakamura Sotoji Komuten’s philosophy that a building is a vessel for human life. Chef Tsutsui said, “As cooks, we spend nearly all our time in the kitchen, so we feel lucky to have had such a wonderful insight into the design features and craftsmanship incorporated into the building, which benefit our guests too.”

To mark the occasion, Chef Tsutsui prepared a dish of hot stuffed tomatoes. Tomatoes are usually associated with summer, but in winter they grow slowly and are full of flavour with thick flesh, which makes them ideal for stuffing. “The restaurant is also where hotel guests take breakfast, so I’ve tried to combine warmth and freshness,” Chef Tsutsui explained. Each tomato was stuffed with lobster mousse and soft cod roe, the red of the fruit contrasting with the green of the broccoli with which it was served.

The acidity of the tomato beautifully set off the rich flavours of the lobster and cod roe, and Koji Nakamura agreed with a happy smile that ‘This dish would be especially delicious on a cold day, because it really warms you up.”