Munamon

What a munamon is

A munamon is carried on two main posts alone, without the supporting posts that a Yakuimon or a Shikyakumon sets behind or before them. The ridge rests directly on the main pair.

Being so plain, it is usually built into a wall. Two posts alone would be unstable front to back, and the walls running out to either side do the bracing.

The south wall at the Ishido Residence in Hyogo Prefecture, from the late Edo period, is described as an earthen wall running east and west of the front gate along the south of the plot, with a gate of this form 0.8 metres wide where it meets the guest room at the east end, standing on skilfully close-fitted masonry, 45 metres long, its wall left at the intermediate coat and its roof in Sangawara-buki. A small opening pierced in a long wall.

Gardens are entered the same way. The garden gate and dividing wall at the Fukuda Residence in Kochi Prefecture, from about 1924, are described as a timber gate of this form with one opening in two bays, its gabled pantiled roof given a Teri-mukuri curve, leading from the front of the main entrance to the south garden.

Opened in a shrine fence

Fences enclosing sacred ground carry them too. Yusuhara Hachimangu in Oita Prefecture, an Important Cultural Property including work of 1850, is described as enclosing the sanctuary with a fence running east and west from the north face of the offering hall, with gates of this form opened before the treasure halls to either side.

The character of the type is that it does not stand alone but works as part of a wall or fence. A Nagayamon brings rooms with it and a Yaguramon carries a turret above; this one reduces the gate to the minimum.

On site, look behind the main posts. No supporting posts, with the roof resting on two posts alone, identifies the form, and walls meeting the posts to either side are what hold it steady.