Yodokō Geihinkan (Yamamura House)

photo by 663highland · CC BY-SA 3.0

Designed in 1918 by Frank Lloyd Wright, it opens only on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

On the hill at Ashiya, in 1918 Frank Lloyd Wright designed the villa for the eighth generation of the Yamamura family, sake brewers in Nada; construction, overseen by his pupils after his return to America, was finished in 1924. It is one of the very few of his works still standing in Japan. An Important Cultural Property since 1974, it has a roof terrace from which you can see the Rokkō mountains, Ashiya and, on clear days, Osaka Bay.

A villa designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Yamamura Tazaemon, eighth head of a dynasty of Nada sake brewers; now owned by the finance company Yodogawa Steel Works, hence its current name Yodokō. It is one of the very few Wright buildings surviving in Japan, along with the Jiyū Gakuen Myōnichikan in Tokyo.

ℹ️ Open Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00–16:00 (last entry 15:30). Tickets: adults 500 yen, students 200 yen; the official site warns that prices will rise from October 2026; check the new amounts on the official site. Free car park for 7 cars; the last stretch on foot from the bus stop is a steep climb. No closure for restoration is reported on the official site at present.

🚉 Ashiyagawa · 7 min walk

Sources: yodoko-geihinkan.jp · yodoko-geihinkan.jp

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