Komachi Sake Brewery Service Gate

The oldest of the five: a working gate of 1897

The Komachi Sake Brewery Service Gate (小町酒造通用門, Komachi Shuzō Tsūyōmon) in Sohara Ibukicho, Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, is the gate on the east side of the Komachi Sake Brewery, built in 1897 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2008/04/18 (registration number 21-0164). It is the oldest of the five registered structures, put up three years after the brewery was founded in 1894.

It stands near the middle of the east side of the plot, attached on the north to the main brewing storehouse (honkura) and on the south to a lavatory. The Sangawara-buki pantile roof is of the ryōsage type, pitched to front and back, and the gate is 4.1 metres wide. A central doorway 2.3 metres wide is closed by double board doors, with a Sodobei wing wall on the south and a Kugurido wicket door on the north.

Arms under the eaves, splayed iron straps

The main posts are rectangular in section (kobira-bashira, in the Agency's term), and Udeki arms project from them to carry the eaves out over the doorway, casting a shallow band of shade in front of the doors.

What catches the eye on the doors is the large iron strapwork, Happō kanamono of the iri-happō type, its split ends opening wide. The straps strengthen the boards and double as ornament, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles them out as the gate's most striking detail. A tsūyōmon is the gate for everyday comings and goings, as opposed to a formal front entrance.

What to look at

The Komachi Sake Brewery Service Gate faces the road on the east. From the front, the double doors in the centre, the wing wall to the south and the wicket to the north make an asymmetrical line, framed by the storehouse and the lavatory on either side.

The shape of the strapwork is clearest up close. For more than 120 years the gate has handled the daily traffic of a working brewery.

Visiting

The Komachi Sake Brewery Service Gate is a working entrance to the brewery, and you cannot go through it. The exterior can be seen from the east road. Vehicles and staff come and go during work hours, so avoid standing in front of the doors. Directions from the station are on the Komachi Sake Brewery page.