Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate

About the Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate

The Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate (瀬上嶋貫本家住宅表門, Senoue Shimanuki Honke Jūtaku Omotemon) is a Yakuimon gate on the east side of the Shimanuki head family estate, just south of the main house, in Senoue-machi, Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, built in the early Meiji era (1868 to 1882) and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2013.

The Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate is 2.3 metres wide under a gabled roof of sangawara pantiles, with short side walls (Sodobei) on both flanks and a wicket door (Kugurido) on the north side. It is the formal entrance on the old Ōshū Kaidō, and with the bunko storehouse to its south it is among the oldest structures on the estate.

A Zelkova Yakuimon

The Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate is built of fine zelkova (keyaki), a hard, handsomely grained timber long favoured for temple gates and pillars.

A yakuimon carries its roof on four posts: the two main posts that hold the doors, and two rear posts behind them. Here a tie beam (Kabuki) spans each pair, and three beams cross between them to carry the purlins. The frame is left fully visible, spreading the weight of the roof evenly over the four posts.

The post corners are finished in kichōmen-dori, a chamfer with a small step at each edge; in raking light a pair of fine lines runs up each arris. Between the main posts hang Sankarado, framed panel doors of a type more often seen at temples.

Quiet Authority on the Highway

The Agency for Cultural Affairs says the Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate lends dignity to the whole estate. It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, as the first thing travellers on the highway saw of the house.

At 2.3 metres it is not a large gate. The care lies in the details: choice zelkova, chamfered posts, panelled doors. It makes its point through materials and workmanship, not carving.

Seeing the Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate

The Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence Front Gate faces the old highway, so its front can be studied from the road. Standing before it, you can follow the chamfered posts and the beams linking front and rear tie beams.

According to the official site, visitors enter by the north gate and may not use the main east gate or the west gate. Treat the front gate, on the east side of the plot, as something to view from outside. Visits to the estate are by reservation only; directions and booking details are on the Senoue Shimanuki Main Family Residence page.