Back in the 1930s, there were a number of Japanese-style inns located in the vicinity of the former Hakata Station (present day Derai-Machi Park, Hakata Eki-mae), and Taiseikan was one of them. During the Second World War, the inn was used by the Japanese military to accommodate Tokkōtai (特攻隊, lit. “special attack units”) or kamikaze pilots during their final days before departing for Chiran, Kagoshima, the main sortie base from which attacks against Allied ships were launched in the closing days of the war. After the war, the inn was requisitioned by the occupational forces and in 1952 reopened under its present name Kashima Honkan.

Designed in the sukiya manner, Kashima Honkan was designated as a tangible cultural asset in 2007, the first of its kind.

With 27 Japanese style rooms, the inn can accommodate some 18,000 guests annually, a fifth of whom are travelers from abroad.