A Guide to the Kyoto State Guest House, a Cultural Facility Open Year Round

This guest house was built to accommodate important guests – such as foreign head of states and prime ministers – who come to visit Japan. It is used as a venue for summit meetings, courtesy calls, and dinner parties, among other important state ceremonies.

The Kyoto State Guest House is built in what is called a “modern Japanese” style, which combines the beauty of traditional Japanese architecture with modern building techniques. The furnishings use a variety of traditional crafts, so that guests may feel the marvelous aspect of Japan through them. For instance, you may find Nishijin brocade, Japanese lacquer, or gold lacquer (a traditional technique of painting designs on the surface of lacquer using gold or silver powder). Next up will be specific highlights of the guest house.

The Juraku no Ma is used as a waiting room for guests and other attendants to dinner parties and other meetings. The room has a warm atmosphere thanks to its flower vase that was made by living national treasure and octagonal table which was crafted using bamboo and Kyo-sashimono* technique.

*The furniture were made by putting wooden pieces together without using nails.

This room has a maximum capacity of 60 – 70 people, and is mainly used for meetings among ministers and for Ryurei-style tea ceremonies. The style of this room is changeable depending on the purpose, as the walls can be moved to separate the room into 3 sections. The large wall ornaments at the east and west are woven tapestries, which have the designs of the moon reflecting upon Mt. Hiei and the sunset at Mt. Atago.

This banquet hall has a capacity of up to 120 people, and boasts the largest area in the whole state guest house. This room is mainly used for dinner parties and occasional Japanese traditional performing arts shows. Here, you may find "kirikane" on the stage door, which is a traditional way of decoration. What is most eye catching is the gorgeous tapestry at the front, which features 39 types of Japanese flowers from all four seasons.

* Kirikane refers to a traditional technique of putting several layers of golden foil on top of one another to create a design. They are pasted using the tip of a brush with glue to create a linear, circular, triangular, or square shape.

This banquet hall holds a total of 24 people, and is used to serve mainly Japanese food. The main feature of this room would be the long table which measures around 12m. It has an especially beautiful jet black lacquer painting, which was applied after the wood was sanded to remove any irregularities. The tatami mats were made using traditional weaving techniques, which only makes use of the good parts of the soft rush straw.

The well-kept Japanese garden is another place that you should visit. It was created with the concept called “teioku-ichinyo (oneness of house and garden)”, which is why the garden can be found in the center. Here, you may feast your eyes upon the Japanese aesthetic of nature and beauty. It is recommended to come during the occasional days when it is open at night to bask in that dreamy atmosphere.