Natsunoya is lone reminder of Oahu’s teahouse heyday

At one time Oahu had up to 30 Japanese teahouses. Today just one remains: Natsunoya in Alewa Heights.

I wonder how many of my readers will remember some of their names: Mochizuki, Nuuanu Onsen, Kasuga, Ishii Gardens, Kanraku or Rainbow Garden.

My allergy doctor, Franklin Yamamoto, recalled going to several of the teahouses in the mid-1960s. "The settings were so incredible," he said. "Mochizuki and Ishii Gardens had small huts along a stream."

"My dad used to play go and drink sake with other men there. I also went to Natsunoya, Nuuanu Onsen and Kanraku. It cost about $10 a person for fabulous dinners. I miss those places. They were so intimate, and we felt so served and special. That part of Hawaii is gone."

Japanese teahouses went through several evolutions. They began as early as 110 years ago as bathhouses. Many Japanese laborers never married, and the teahouses became a place for them to party. By the 1930s they evolved into fine Japanese dining. They became places you took visiting mainland friends for the best Japanese food in the islands.

Many didn’t survive World War II, when it seemed unpatriotic to support Japanese establishments. By the 1960s and 1970s, they began evolving into banquet facilities for parties and events.

Most of the teahouses were on water of some kind — rivers, springs or ponds. Nuuanu Onsen was mauka of the Queen Emma Summer Palace on Nuuanu Stream. Ishii Gardens was also on Nuuanu Stream just below Kuakini on Huna Lane.

Mochizuki was off Judd and Liliha streets where Kunawai artesian spring is. Rainbow Garden Teahouse was near the University of Hawaii quarry above Kanewai Stream. Seaside Gardens was in Waikiki, near today’s Ilikai.

The settings were idyllic. Guests had separate rooms separated by shoji doors, overlooking ponds filled with carp. Ikebana flower arrangements and paper lanterns would be placed in the room.

Guests would remove their shoes and be given a kimono. They would sit on zabuton and, if they desired, be entertained by geisha. They could then have a delicious sukiyaki dinner.

The term teahouse may be misleading. Tea was not the star here. Sake or beer might be more popular. One reporter described Oahu teahouses as part nightclub, part elegant restaurant and part speakeasy.

In the early days, most of the teahouses had furo and other bathing facilities. Japanese bathhouses were social gathering places where neighbors and friends would meet, drink, talk story and dine.

Natsunoya had furo, but now the area is a sushi bar. As a nod to the past it is called a "furo ba."

Nuuanu Onsen was the last bathhouse on Oahu. It began as a bathhouse in 1927. The owners brought in medicine from Japan to be added to heated water from Nuuanu Stream. After a while they added lunch service and soon evolved into a teahouse.

Former owner Dorothy Kameda said once people came there, "they liked the outdoorsy, clean-airy feeling. All their frustrations were erased."

Most teahouses provided whole rooms for their parties, from small to large. Jun Mochizuki, a manager at Kanraku, said, "you couldn’t get the privacy of a teahouse in any other kind of restaurant."

Kanraku, on Kohou Street overlooking Kapalama Canal, could accommodate groups of up to 500. Kanraku means "treasure of happiness."

In the mid-1980s, dinners generally ran $15 a person and included nine courses, such as miso soup, sashimi, sushi, tempura, namasu, sukiyaki, crab-stuffed lobster, teriyaki chicken and more.

You may have heard that a spy from the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu watched ship movements in Pearl Harbor and sent coded messages to Tokyo in the months before World War II. What is largely unknown is that he did it from Natsunoya Tea House in Alewa Heights.

"A customer named Yoshikawa used to come here during the day for tea or beer," recalled current Natsunoya owner Lawrence Fujiwara Jr.

"When he was tired, my grandmother let him sleep in an upstairs room where we had a telescope. Unbeknownst to us, he was using it to watch the ship movements at Pearl Harbor."

Natsunoya, which means "summer house," is the last remaining full-time teahouse in the islands. "My grandfather Shuuji Fujiwara had a small teahouse in Alewa Heights in 1921, named Shinchoro. He had to build the road and put in his own telephone poles," Fujiwara said.

In 1958 Shuuji Fujiwara’s son, Lawrence Fujiwara Sr., took over and changed the name to Natsunoya.

Natsunoya can host seven events at a time. Its large banquet room can hold 300; two cottages can hold 30 each, and two tatami rooms can hold 12 to 60.

I’ve been to Natsunoya several times. It’s a beautiful setting and the food is delicious.

Dignitaries of all sorts have visited Natsunoya. "John Wayne and Kirk Douglas shot a scene from a movie here," Fujiwara said. "Actors and singers from Japan regularly come. Konishiki and many of the sumotori ate us out of teahouse and home. The Pittsburgh Steelers came when they won the Super Bowl. Local politicians, military leaders and many others have all been here."

Lawrence Fujiwara Jr. has run Natsunoya since 1996 when his dad died. "It’s a tough job," said the father of four. "I have to work until the job is done."

Natsonya is also well known for its bentos. Its largest order was for 11,700 bentos for a union picnic. That might be a record.

I’ll be on vacation next week. When I return we’ll reminisce about Mochizuki Tea House in Liliha.