Kusaka Family Residence Front Gate

The entrance at the southeast corner

The Kusaka Family Residence Front Gate (日下家住宅表門, Kusaka-ke Jūtaku Omotemon) in Hibarigaoka, Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, is the concrete gateway that forms the entrance from the street, made in the early Showa era; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 29, 2019 (number 28-704). It stands at the southeast corner of the plot.

The Kusaka Family Residence Front Gate is the entrance from the street. From here stepped paths climb through the middle gate to the front of the main house, so this is where the approach to a hillside home begins.

Posts only 0.7 metres high

The Kusaka Family Residence Front Gate is made of concrete: square posts 0.7 metres high set 1.9 metres apart, with short wing walls on either side. The surface is exposed pebble aggregate, with flat teppei stone laid along the foot like a skirting board.

An open, doorless entrance

The Kusaka front gate has no doors at all. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it small and simple, creating the bright, open frontage typical of a modern house. Posts lower than waist height are not there to shut anything out; they mark where the property begins.

Visiting

The Kusaka Family Residence Front Gate faces the street at the southeast corner of the plot and can be seen from the road. Beyond it is a private home, so do not enter, linger or look in.

The background of the property, what can be seen from outside and directions are on the Kusaka Family Residence (Takarazuka) page.