Jinpūkaku

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

photo by Suicasmo · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Suicasmo · CC BY-SA 4.0

It was designed by Katayama Tōkuma, like the Akasaka Palace: the future Taishō slept here.

A white mansion in French Renaissance style, two storeys in wood with a tiled roof, built in May 1907 to a design by Katayama Tōkuma (the same architect as the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo) to host Crown Prince Yoshihito, the future Emperor Taishō, during his journey through the San'in. Inside is a 4-metre-high spiral staircase, supported without pillars. It was also a set for the film Rurouni Kenshin (2012), where it played the residence of the villain Takeda Kanryū.

Commissioned by the fourteenth head of the Ikeda clan of Tottori next to the ruins of his own castle (on the site of the castle's former second bailey), it has been a nationally designated Important Cultural Property (国指定重要文化財) since 2 June 1973. Since 29 December 2023 it has been closed to the public for a long structural restoration.

ℹ️ CLOSED to the public since 29/12/2023 for restoration. In the meantime these remain open free of charge: the guidance facility (ガイダンス施設) in front of the entrance, 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed on Mondays (the following weekday if the Monday is a public holiday) and at the end and start of the year; and the Hōryū-in Garden (宝隆院庭園) next door, always open to visitors. Opening hours and ticket for the building itself, before the closure, NOT rechecked against the operator's source: Wikipedia gives 9:00–17:00 and 150 yen (free up to high school), but it is not the operator's source and they will not necessarily stay the same on reopening; to be rechecked then. Address: 〒680-0011 鳥取県鳥取市東町二丁目121, tel. 0857-26-3595.

🚉 内吉方 · 35 min walk

Sources: tbz.or.jp · tbz.or.jp · tbz.or.jp · pref.tottori.lg.jp · ja.wikipedia.org · bunkenkyo.or.jp

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