Sep 12, 2015 - 1 min read

Mikami's Merchant House at Miyazu

Sake and tea parties at a historic seaside villa

By Bonson Lam

Community writer

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A traditional Japanese garden at Mikami's house.

Take a seat on the wooden patio and imagine the days a few centuries ago when visiting merchants would relax over tea or sake as the sun and moon made its way across the skies over the garden.

Exquisite details of the birds and flowers at Mikami's historic house in Miyazu.

The regal splendour from the age of the Samurai

Following a fire in 1783 the wooden pillars were specially coated to prevent fires, a common feature of houses in that time.

The grand entrance to Mikami's historic house in Miyazu. Today this port is the gateway for cruise ships to dock in Kyoto Prefecture.

Miyazu is a beautiful port city, and as Kyoto's gateway to the Japan Sea, played an important part of its trade with the outside world. As you walk around the city, you will realise that many of the streets rotate outwards from the waterfront wharves. Mr Mikami was a prosperous merchant in this castle town, trying his hand in sake making, shipping as well as trading textiles. You can see the legacy of his lifetime's work at his house, with its stone garden as its focal point. The south facing garden allowed sunlight to bathe the surrounding rooms, giving it a spacious and warm feel even in winter. Take a seat on the wooden patio and imagine the days a few centuries ago when visiting merchants would relax over tea or sake as the sun and moon made its way across the skies over the garden. Mikami's house is short walk or cycle ride from Seikiro Ryokan, where you can relive the grandeur of Kyoto's past in a spacious ryokan, or Japanese bed and breakfast.