Sakai Family Residence South Gate and South Wall

About the Sakai Family Residence South Gate and South Wall

The Sakai Family Residence South Gate and South Wall (酒井家住宅南門及び南塀, Sakai-ke Jūtaku Minami-mon oyobi Minami-bei) is a timber gate and wall built around 1930 in Rakuma, Maruoka-cho, Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2025.

The South Gate and South Wall consists of an Udekimon gate on the south side of the estate and a wall running west from it. The gate is 1.9 m wide and the wall 12 m long, ending against the west storehouse.

Finishing the South Side of the Estate

The Sakai Family Residence South Gate and South Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that, running on into the west storehouse, it gives the south edge of the estate its historic character.

If the main gate in the west is the formal entrance, the south gate is the side way in. It is smaller and plainer, yet gate, wall and storehouse together make one continuous south front.

A Single Board of Zelkova

The South Gate stands on a raised base under a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. Its eaves are a hitonoki mabara-daruki arrangement, a single row of widely spaced rafters, much simpler than the carved main gate.

Inside, the gate has a coffered Gō-tenjō ceiling, and its double doors are each made from a single board of keyaki (Japanese zelkova). Doors of one board need unusually wide, high-grade timber, so a plain-looking gate quietly uses fine material.

The Ranma above the doors is filled with tasuki-zan, diagonal bars crossed to form a diamond lattice.

The south wall is plastered in Shikkui with vertical boarding at its base. It runs west and meets the west storehouse, so the boundary flows unbroken from gate to storehouse.

Seeing the Sakai Family Residence South Gate and South Wall

The South Gate and South Wall belongs to a private home and you cannot go inside the gate (checked October 2026). It stands on the south edge of the estate, but we could not confirm how it looks from the road.

If you look at it from nearby, stay off the property and do not disturb the residents. The estate as a whole is described on the Sakai Family Residence (Maruoka) page.