What a yakuimon is
A yakuimon is a gate with a second pair of posts set behind the main pair and the ridge placed forward over the main posts rather than at the centre, so that the roof is longer behind than in front.
Records list the members that make it up. The gate at Jinkoin in Kyoto Prefecture, from the later Edo period, is described as a single-bay gate of this form, Kirizuma-zukuri with formal tiles, with a lower beam framed into the heads of its heavy main posts, a thick lintel across them, and a shaped strut on the upper beam carrying the ridge, with a single tier of widely spaced Taruki and a carved pendant at the gable peak. The entry calls it plain in design but dignified.
The gate at Shinkoji in Osaka, from the mid-Edo period, is described as a single-bay gate of the same form 2.7 metres wide, gabled with formal tiles, with paired beams and a lintel, a bracket block on the upper beam carrying a Kōryō and the eaves purlin, and a Taiheizuka across the gable with carved projections on all four sides.
The lintel joining the heads of the main posts and the two beams running front to back are the framework of the type. A gate described as single-bay has one span between its main posts.
Temples and houses alike
The form invites carving. The gate at Fukusenbo in Hiroshima Prefecture, built in 1830, is described as a single-bay gate 2.4 metres wide, gabled and pantiled, with three-block brackets on the upper beam carrying the purlin and a curved beam, double rows of closely spaced rafters, and dragons in cloud filling the beam along the ridge line, its carving characteristic of the late Edo period.
The gate at Jissoji in Tokyo is described as a large example with two and a half tiers of closely spaced rafters, boldly moulded ends to its beams, and an unusually shaped curved beam above the lintel. The projecting beam ends are where the design shows.
Houses use it for their front gates. The gate and walls of the Watanabe Residence in Fukushima Prefecture, from the late Meiji period, are described as standing on the road at the south of the plot with walls running to either side, the gate gabled and pantiled with no doors hung. The front gate of the Kazama villa in Yamagata Prefecture is described as being of the same form, with a heavy lintel over square posts, an upper beam carrying a roof of moderately spaced rafters, and flanking walls splaying out from the main posts.
Other gate forms work differently. A Nagayamon carries rooms to either side within one range, while this type stands as a gate on its own with walls extending from it.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Registered tangible cultural properties (structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/toroku_yukei.html
- National Cultural Properties Database: Jinkoin temple gate, a single-bay gate with the ridge carried on a strut above the upper beam
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013751
- National Cultural Properties Database: Shinkoji temple gate, a single-bay gate with paired beams and a strut across the gable
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007244
- National Cultural Properties Database: Fukusenbo temple gate, 2.4 metres wide with dragons carved across the ridge beam
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010354
- National Cultural Properties Database: Watanabe Residence gate and walls, gabled and pantiled with no doors hung
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013501
- National Cultural Properties Database: Kazama villa front gate, built in the same form with a heavy lintel over square posts
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003348
Last verified: 2026.08.31