Kagami-bashira

What kagami-bashira are

Kagami-bashira are the main posts flanking the doorway of a gate. Heavy squared timbers, they hang the doors and anchor the whole composition.

The Takigawa Residence gatehouse in Aichi Prefecture, built in 1763, is described as 6.5 bays by 2, Kirizuma-zukuri with Sangawara-buki, with these posts set towards the west end framing a doorway with a side door, and rooms of two sizes to either side. That is the standard layout of a Nagayamon.

Records often call the same members simply main posts. The former Kashiwabara Residence gate in Kochi Prefecture, from the early Showa period, is described as having main posts across an opening of two metres, a lintel across them carrying the lower beam, and the upper beam spanning to the supporting posts behind. In a Yakuimon the pair of main posts and the pair behind them explain the structure.

The Japanese name is said to compare the flat dressed face of the post to a mirror. Standing at the front of the gate, these are its most visible timbers, and their thickness and finish state the rank of the gate.

Their place in the gate

A gate is built outward from these posts. A lintel spans their heads, beams run front to back above it, and the roof rests on those. In a yakuimon a second pair stands behind; in a gatehouse the ranges of rooms run off to either side.

When a record names them, the gate is of the kind that hangs doors on main posts. Their position is given as off-centre because the doorway of a gatehouse shifts to suit the rooms beside it.

On site, look for the posts the doors hang from. The two heaviest timbers at the doorway are these, a size larger than the others and dressed flat on the face.