Thatched Walkway

A covered walkway at Kinugawa Kan runs between two parts of the hotel complex, its roof framed in timber and finished in a thatched panel that imitated the traditional Japanese style. The thatch has weathered through more than two decades of disuse, with patches gone entirely and the timber framing exposed underneath. The walkway floor is timber decking, dampened and warped at the seams. Stone lanterns line the path at intervals, several toppled, several still upright. The walls of the buildings on either side of the walkway are visible: one tiled, one rendered concrete. The walkway runs as a sheltered route between the main hotel and the Kappa Onsen bath wing below.

Thatched walkways were a common touch at Japanese ryokans of Kinugawa Kan's era, used to add visual traditional character to buildings that were otherwise built in reinforced concrete. The walkway in this photograph linked the modernist hotel block to the more traditional bath buildings below it, serving as a transition between the two registers of the property. Kinugawa Kan declared bankruptcy in June 1999. The walkway was sealed at both ends and has not carried foot traffic since. The thatch has continued to weather.