Yodokō Guest House, Historic residence in Yamatechō, Ashiya, Japan
The Yodokō Guest House is a historic residence in Yamatechō, Ashiya, Japan, built from reinforced concrete in four tiered floors on a hillside. The structure uses the slope to create views across the surrounding landscape from its elevated position.
Frank Lloyd Wright designed this residence, completed in 1924 as a secondary home for Tazaemon Yamamura, a prominent sake brewer. It remains the only surviving residential work from Wright's Japanese period in its original form.
The name comes from Yodogawa Steel Works, which acquired the property later and preserves it to this day. Visitors see dark mahogany wood alongside the greenish Ōya stone inside, creating warm and cool tones together in the rooms.
The residence sits ten minutes on foot from Ashiya River Station and opens to visitors after extensive preservation work. The tiered construction means different levels spread across multiple floors.
Wright chose to use reinforced concrete more heavily here than in his earlier projects, helping him make the building more resistant to earthquakes. The property actually survived the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake with relatively minor damage.
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