Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate

About the Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate

The Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate (矢吹家住宅表門, Yabuki-ke Jūtaku Omotemon) is a Yakuimon-type gate built in 1918 on the southern part of the east front of the Yabuki family estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2015.

The Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate is built entirely of Keyaki, Japanese zelkova, and is 3.3 metres wide, with a gabled roof of pantiles and wing walls on either side. It was put up six years after the main house, giving the estate its formal entrance.

Carved Beams over the Opening

A yakuimon has its main posts, which carry the doors, backed by a pair of rear posts; beams spanning the two pairs carry a gabled roof.

The detail to look for on the Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate sits above the Kabuki, the crossbeam over the opening. The lower beam resting on it is carved with swirling scroll patterns, and an upper beam above that takes the purlins at both ends. The structure that holds up the roof doubles as the ornament of the façade.

Single Boards of Zelkova

Not only the posts and beams of the Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate are zelkova. The board doors and the panels of the wing walls are also single, unjointed boards of the same wood. Zelkova is hard and handsomely grained, and boards this wide require very large trees.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate as a weighty gate that lends dignity to the front of an old family's house. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape.

To the north the miso storehouse and the tool storehouse continue along the street, and gate and stores together form the east front of the estate. The gate stands at its southern end, in the place where visitors were received from the road.

Seeing the Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate

The Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate faces the street and is the most visible part of the Yabuki Family Residence. The carved beam and the grain of the zelkova doors and wing walls are best seen from the far side of the road.

The ground inside the Yabuki Family Residence Front Gate is private property. Please do not pass through the gate or linger in front of it. No public openings could be found (checked October 2026). Directions are on the Yabuki Family Residence page.