Home/Ibaraki/Kitaibaraki/Izura Rokkakudo

Izura Rokkakudo

Published: Aug 11, 2026

Updated: Aug 11, 2026

RokkakudoOkakura TenshinIzuraKitaibarakiBook of Tea

Representative image — not a photograph of this location.

Okakura Tenshin wrote The Book of Tea, ran the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, curated Asian art in Boston, and argued that Asia was one civilisation. In 1905 he built himself a small vermilion hexagonal hut on a rock ledge directly above the Pacific at Izura, on the northern Ibaraki coast, and used it to think in. He also moved the Japan Art Institute out here, which briefly made this stretch of cliff the centre of modern Japanese painting.

The building is tiny and sits so close to the water that spray reaches it. The 2011 tsunami destroyed it entirely; it was rebuilt to the original design and reopened in 2012. It is now managed by Ibaraki University, and you buy a ticket, walk down through pine and out onto the ledge. Whether the hut is beautiful is debatable; that Okakura chose this specific spot to sit and look at the ocean is not.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

8:30 AM – 5:30 PM (April–September) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM (October, February, March) | 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM (November–January)

Closed: Closed Mondays, or the following day when the Monday is a holiday | December 29 – January 3

Entrance Fee

¥400 general | ¥350 groups of 20+ and visitors aged 70 and over | Free for junior high school students and under

Best Season

Year-round | Morning light on the hut; winter for a rough sea

Visit Duration

45–60 minutes

Getting There

Access Information

727-2 Izura, Otsu-cho, Kitaibaraki. Car recommended. Admission ¥400 general, ¥350 for groups of 20 or more and visitors aged 70 and over, free for junior high school students and under. Open 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM from April to September, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM in October, February and March, and 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM from November to January. Closed Mondays, or the following day when the Monday is a holiday, and December 29 – January 3.

Insider Guide

Premium

**It is a rebuild, and that matters.** The original was swept away by the 2011 tsunami and reconstructed to the same design. Knowing that changes how the site reads — this coast was hit hard, and the hut going back up was a deliberate act. **Go in the morning.** The hut faces east over the Pacific and the light on it is best early. Winter hours end at 4:30 PM, so a late afternoon visit in December is not viable. **Read a page of Okakura first.** The Book of Tea is short and in the public domain. Twenty minutes of it before you come turns a small red hut into the place where a specific argument about Asia and the West was worked out. **Add the Tenshin Memorial Museum.** The prefectural museum dedicated to him is a few minutes away and holds the Izura painters' work, which the hut itself does not.

View on Google Maps