Hotel Keihan Tenmabashi Ekimae

The site thrived as the starting point of a pilgrimage route to Kumano and was called the Hachiken-Yahama (eight boathouses), which comes from eight boathouses standing in a row in the Edo period. It is said that people would travel from Fushimi, Kyoto on a Sanjyukoku boat along the Yodo river and leave the boat at Hachiken-Yahama to walk to Kumano Taisiya. For the exterior of the hotel, window arrangement and color scheme were developed in an image of a modern inn. The second floor on the north side facing Tosabori Street is lined with rooftop greening, providing a charm to the streetscape. The interior was designed to resemble Kyoto and Kumano. We expressed a modern and chic Kyoto using plasterwork and bamboo for finishing. The restaurant connected to the reception lobby is an all-day dining place open to the public, centered around the bar counter with a casual and relaxing but vibrant atmosphere. Guestroom floors are covered with carpet inspired by the Kumano Kodo Street’s stone pavement. The ceiling of guestrooms, designed to resemble tearooms, takes on the “Shin-Gyo-So” style (typical ceiling finish for tearooms). The diagonal Kakekomi ceiling has eliminated the need for support fitting for the steel brace. One can see a stone wall of the Toyotomi period (around the 1580s) through the green garden in the back of the restaurant and get a glimpse of Temmambashi Ekimae’s history.