hello Kibichūō, Okayama
CIBI Okayama & CIBI House opening!!
CIBI Okayama will open in Kibichūō, Okayama in June 2026, followed by the opening of CIBI House in 2027. Through this journal, we would like to share the story behind how this place has come to life — the process, the people, and the ideas that shaped it along the way.
In this story, we focus on CIBI House.
Meet CIBI House
CIBI House is a traditional Japanese farmhouse resting upon a hilltop about 10 minutes by car from CIBI Okayama. We are currently preparing to open it as accommodation in 2027. Although this is CIBI’s first accommodation project, it felt like a very natural extension of the lifestyle we have always hoped to share.
The house is a single-storey wooden home built around 100 years ago. Beneath the corrugated metal roof lies the original thatched roof, and traces of what was once a deep red exterior remain weathered with age. Marks of past repairs can be seen throughout the house, quietly revealing its long history.
The surrounding area is a small hamlet of around ten homes, each sitting far apart from one another. CIBI House stands on a small hill overlooking rice fields. Around the house grow yuzu, persimmon, plum and chestnut trees, while the mountain behind is rich with wild mountain vegetables such as warabi fern, yomogi, fuki and tara-no-me.
One of the greatest charms of CIBI House is its landscape — the gentle curves of the rice fields against the mountain ridgelines. Every season offers its own beauty: the fresh greens of spring, shimmering water-filled rice paddies in summer, vivid autumn colours, and the quiet brown mountains of winter gathering strength for the next season. Each moment carries a different expression of beauty.
A Home to Reflect Traditional Ways of Living
This was originally the home where Okada-san was born and raised. Now nearly 80 years old, he told us stories of growing up here, in a home passed down from his grandmother’s generation.
To carry this home into the future, we spent time listening to Okada-san’s memories and stories of life here, allowing those conversations to gently shape our ideas for the space.
Immediately by the entrance was a doma, an earthen-floor space used for cooking and daily work.
The house itself consisted of two eight-tatami rooms and two six-tatami rooms. These four rooms formed a large square, divided by sliding shoji screens arranged in a cross.
Zenta gained a renewed appreciation for the role of the shoji screens.
By simply opening or closing the shoji screens, which functioned as movable walls, the house could transform into one large open space or four separate rooms. For gatherings and family ceremonies, the rooms would open into a single shared floor. In everyday life, they became four individual spaces once again. The shoji created flexibility and openness, a uniquely Japanese way of shaping space and living. They became one of the defining symbols of the house, and we decided early on that they should remain.
Another interesting feature was the absence of windows.
During those times, people spent most of the day outside working in the fields until sunset. Time spent inside the house was limited to the early morning and evening, so large windows were unnecessary. Instead, the engawa veranda acted as the threshold between indoors and outdoors, bringing in air and light.
The way people lived was deeply reflected in the structure of the house itself. Each era carries its own rhythms of daily life, and traces of those ways of living still remain here, even after 100 years. Through Okada-san’s stories, we came to recognise the value held within those quiet remnants of the past.
We wanted to preserve as much of the house’s original character as possible, allowing guests to experience traces of how people once lived here. With that intention as our foundation, we carefully updated the space so that it could also feel comfortable for people today.
A renovation of curiosity and care
The balance between preserving the old way of life and introducing modern elements became central to the renovation.
While preserving the function of the shoji screens, we reworked the flooring. The old tatami mats were removed, and concrete was poured into the lowered floor level beneath them.
The original shikii and kamoi — the wooden tracks and beams that hold the sliding shoji screens in place — were carefully retained. Because the concrete floor now sits around 50 centimetres below the shikii, the line where the shoji slide naturally became elevated within the space, creating a quiet presence reminiscent of an engawa veranda.
The engawa itself was another important element we wanted to reinterpret. We brought the idea of the “outside engawa” into the interior, creating bench-like platforms that can be sat on or used as pathways leading toward the doma. Together with the movable shoji screens, the space can flexibly adapt to different group sizes and ways of spending time.
The timber used throughout the renovation is locally sourced hinoki cypress from Okayama. Okayama is Japan’s leading producer of hinoki logs, known for their exceptional quality. By using local materials, we hoped guests could feel a deeper connection to the land itself.
Because the doma was once the home’s cooking space, the kitchen remains in the same area near the entrance. Guests will also be able to harvest fresh vegetables from the small garden beside CIBI House and enjoy cooking with seasonal produce. The wine fridge in the kitchen will be stocked with a selection of wines chosen by CIBI.
The irori hearth has also been updated.
The square hearth area was reconstructed in concrete, with surrounding concrete bench seating added around it. Guests will be able to gather around the fire, grill ingredients over binchotan charcoal, and share meals together.
The original Goemon bath has been transformed into a bathtub, while a shower was also added for modern comfort.
While preserving the beauty and character of the traditional Japanese house, we are approaching the space in a way that feels distinctly CIBI, blending Japanese and Western elements with a quiet sense of modernity.
A quiet space in between
The area surrounding CIBI House is incredibly quiet.
The only sounds are birdsong, insects, and the wind moving through the trees. Guests can wander around the rice fields, explore the mountain paths behind the house, and simply spend time slowly.
Living alongside nature in its raw and honest form, and spending time within a space shaped by older ways of life, led Zenta to reflect on something important.
Inconvenience is not the same as discomfort.
And convenience is not always happiness.
Rather than choosing between two extremes, there is a quiet space that exists somewhere in between. Life in the city is convenient, and there is joy in that convenience. But there is also something joyful about inconvenience, the space it leaves for creativity, slowness, and discovery.
Harvesting vegetables and fruit and tasting the flavours of the land. Making something by hand from the timber around you.
Drawing, sitting quietly with the sunset, or gazing at the stars.
We hope CIBI House can offer a moment that gently affirms a simpler way of living — a place to pause, reconnect, and feel that perhaps this way of being is enough.
And perhaps, guests may return home carrying small inspirations for their own daily lives.
CIBI Okayama ー in the making
CIBI Okayama will open in Kibichuo, Okayama Prefecture, in June 2026.
Following that, CIBI House, a place where guests can stay and experience the surrounding nature more deeply, is scheduled to open in 2027.
Through this series, we would like to share the story of how this place has come to life — offering glimpses into the process, the people involved, and the many layers behind its creation.
CIBI Okayama is hiring!
CIBI Okayama is now hiring for our opening team!
Our new space brings together food, design, and space — expressing CIBI as a whole. As a continuation of our Melbourne and Tokyo locations, we’ll be building this next chapter in Okayama, day by day.
If you feel connected to what we do and would like to be part of shaping this place with us, we would love to hear from you.
