🇯🇵Japan·Seen from outside

Takasugi-an, the too-high teahouse (高過庵)

Chino, Nagano Prefecture

Sources checked November 2026

“A Fujimori teahouse held 6 m off the ground by two chestnut trunks, reached by a ladder on casters.”

Year: 2004
Architect: Terunobu Fujimori
Type: Teahouse
Access: Private land: viewable from outside; the inside opens only for organised tours or events (Chino tourist office, November 2026)

Terunobu Fujimori designed this teahouse for himself and built it in his family's field in Chino, where he was born and raised. Six metres above the ground, it rests on two chestnut trunks taken from the neighbouring mountain and stood up as posts, and visitors climb to it by a ladder on casters. Completed in 2004, it is known even abroad.

Directions

In depth ≈ 1 min read

History

Takasugi-an is the teahouse Fujimori designed for himself. He recounts that, seeing a teahouse he had been commissioned to design near completion, he felt for the first time that he did not want to give it to anyone; to be rid of that feeling, he decided to build one teahouse for his own use, in the field of the family home, on the Chino land where he was born and raised. It was completed in 2004.

The name means "the teahouse built too high". He joked at the time that he would build a too-low one as well: thirteen years later, Hikusugi-an (低過庵), a half-buried teahouse, took its place at the foot of the first.

The American magazine Time included it in its list of the top 10 precarious buildings. Made for him alone, the teahouse has become very popular, even abroad, and the commissions for teahouses that Fujimori receives have grown.

Architecture

The teahouse stands 6 m above the ground on two chestnut trees. It looks like a treehouse, but the two trunks were picked for their fine shape on the neighbouring mountain, felled, then stood up as posts.

A ladder on casters gives access; it is brought over and leant against the structure only when someone is about to climb. Like its two neighbours in the field, Hikusugi-an and the Flying Mud Boat (空飛ぶ泥舟), hung from cables strung from posts on either side, it has a corner for lighting a fire.

Visiting

The teahouse stands on private land, a few steps from the Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum. It can be viewed freely from the outside; the inside stays closed except for organised tours and events. From JR Chino Station, allow about ten minutes by car.