Nagoya University Hospital Gate and Outer Wall (Former Aichi Prefectural Aichi Hospital Service Gate and Outer Wall)

A service entrance and 55 meters of wall

The Nagoya University Hospital Gate and Outer Wall (Former Aichi Prefectural Aichi Hospital Service Gate and Outer Wall) stands at the southeastern corner of the Tsurumai campus in Showa Ward, Nagoya, dates from the late Taisho era, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2007. The Agency for Cultural Affairs places its construction between 1912 and 1925, with remodelling in 1930.

Of the three gates along the south road this is the easternmost. The two to the west are main gates; this one is a tsuyomon, the working entrance used for daily traffic and deliveries. Its opening is 7.4 meters wide, broader than either main gate, and it carries 2 pillars.

The southeastern part of the Tsurumai campus is thought to date from the building programme that followed the college's promotion to Aichi Medical University in 1920. The Aichi Prefectural Board of Education reads this gate and its wall as later than that date, which places them a generation after the main gates completed in 1914.

The wall runs 55 meters. That is far longer than the other two listings, and more of the old wall survives further east beyond the gate itself.

Listed for the quality of its materials

The Nagoya University Hospital Gate and Outer Wall (Former Aichi Prefectural Aichi Hospital Service Gate and Outer Wall) was entered on the register on 2 October 2007 and gazetted on 22 October, under register number 23-0248. The criterion is that the structure sets a standard in design.

Among the three, this is the one whose assessment turns on material. The Agency for Cultural Affairs commentary singles out the glaze on the tile and rates the quality of the material alongside the quality of the design. It describes the terracotta ornament as three-dimensional and geometric. Gate pillars and wall share one design language, and that language holds over a long distance. This is the core of the case for the Registered Tangible Cultural Property listing.

The records do not agree on construction. The structural field of the Agency for Cultural Affairs database calls the pillars stone, while the commentary in the same database and the account from the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education both describe pillars and wall as brick. All sources agree that the surface was refinished in 1930 in scratch tile and terracotta.

Reading a glazed surface

Arriving here after the two main gates, you notice the light behaves differently. Glazed scratch tile has a harder surface than unglazed tile and throws light back. Even under cloud, the edges of the vertical grooves lift slightly white.

The wall is built as pilasters at regular intervals with panels between them. The terracotta set into each pilaster corner stacks squares and steps upward in repetition. The pattern is not flat; it is given enough depth to cast a shadow. This is the work of the Aichi Prefectural construction office in the years when its designers leaned toward Expressionist form.

That treatment continues for 55 meters. Count the pilasters as you walk from the gate. Once a repeated unit acquires distance, ornament turns into rhythm.

The wall around the side entrance matches the design used at the other two gates. Because the service gate pillars carry the same treatment as the wall, the two are taken to be near-contemporary.

Visiting

The Nagoya University Hospital Gate and Outer Wall (Former Aichi Prefectural Aichi Hospital Service Gate and Outer Wall) faces a public road and can be seen from the pavement at any hour, free and without booking. The land beyond is a working hospital, so viewing is from outside.

Photography from the pavement is unrestricted. Inside the boundary, avoid images that include patients or staff. Press and commercial shoots go through Nagoya University's media office.

The nearest stations are Tsurumai on the JR Chuo Main Line and Tsurumai on the Nagoya Municipal Subway Tsurumai Line, both 5 minutes on foot. Since this gate lies furthest east, walking from the station brings you to it last of the three. There is no visitor parking.

To fit the whole wall into a photograph, shoot at an angle from the Tsurumai Park pavement. Late afternoon light picks up the glaze most strongly.