A gate that carries its builder's name in the roof space
The Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate is a single-story timber gatehouse at Shimizu in Yoshise, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, built in 1886 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 November 2015. It faces the lane on the east side of the compound, with the main house of the same residence standing directly behind it.
Most farm buildings of this age are dated by guesswork. This one is not. A Munafuda, the wooden tag hung when a frame is raised, survives near the center of the roof space, and its ink inscription names both the year of construction, 1886, and the master carpenter, Hisamatsu Gen'emon of Kaminomuro village. Family tradition credits the building to Zentaro, head of the household three generations back, in the early Meiji years, and the tag agrees with that account.
The building runs 9 Ken along the lane and 2.5 ken deep, with an eaves height of 12 shaku, about 3.6 meters. Registered building area is 74 square meters. The roof is hipped, in Yosemune-zukuri, and covered in Sangawara-buki pantiles.
A Nagayamon is a gate with living or working quarters built into the range on either side of the passage, and the type marks a household that ranked above its neighbors. This one has stood at the head of the Nemoto compound for close to a century and a half, and the lane it faces has not moved.
Why the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate was registered
The Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate holds registration number 08-0280 and joined the Registered Tangible Cultural Property list in the 82nd round, on the same day as the main house behind it, number 08-0279. Tsukuba City records the two as one entry of 2 buildings. The criterion applied was that the building contributes to the historic landscape of the country.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs description is unusually interested in the carpentry of the opening itself. Above the kabuki lintel that spans the gateway, a beam and bracket arms are framed in to carry the load, and heavy zelkova plank doors hang in the gap. The word the description reaches for is weight. This is a gate built to look substantial from the lane, and the joinery above the doorway is where that impression is manufactured.
Ando Kunihiro, professor emeritus of the University of Tsukuba, wrote the opinion submitted at registration. He singles out the segai eaves as the distinguishing feature: front and back alike, the eave purlin is pushed clear of the wall and then carried out further still on cantilevered rafters, so the overhang is deep on both faces. Deep eaves on both sides of a gate cost timber and labor without adding floor area. That is the point of them, and Ando reads the detail as a statement of the household's standing.
Ando's opinion concludes that the main house and the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate together keep the characteristics of an upper-tier farmstead of the early 19th century, entered through a formal step-entry, and are appropriate for registration on that basis.
What to look for at the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate
Start from the lane, far enough back to see the whole 9 ken of frontage at once. The wall above is finished in Shikkui plaster and the lower band in Shitami-itabari, overlapping boards held by vertical sasarako battens. That skirting is doing practical work, taking the splash and the knocks that a working farmyard delivers to the bottom of a wall, and the change of texture at the top of it is the line that gives the elevation its proportion.
Then come close to the doorway and look up into it. The lintel is a single heavy timber, and above it the beam and the bracket arms sit in plain view rather than hidden behind a ceiling. The doors are zelkova, cut as plates rather than framed panels. Push one and the mass is obvious.
The two rooms flanking the passage were never symmetrical in use. North of the gateway is the store, floored in boards, where household goods and equipment were kept. South of it was the workroom, originally an earth floor. Tenant farmers of the household lived in that room before the war. After the war a relative lived there and ran a bicycle business out of it. In the Showa 40s, the ten years from 1965, it was given over to silkworms.
That split, store on one side and quarters for the people who worked the land on the other, is the standard arrangement for a nagayamon in this district, and the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate follows it exactly. The building was converted into an exhibition room in 1983 and extended in 1987. The store is now the site office and the old workroom is the gallery, so the passage between them still divides work from storage, which is roughly what it always did.
Visiting the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate
The gate stands at the entrance to Tsukuba Bunkago, the name under which the old Nemoto compound now operates, and it can be walked through and looked at without charge or appointment whenever the site is open. The gallery inside, called Gallery Nagayamon, is hired out by the day, so what is behind the doors changes from week to week.
Hire runs at 8000 yen a day or 35000 yen for a week, with Wednesday treated as a closed day on weekly bookings. The main room offers 30 square meters with 18.7 meters of hanging wall standing 2.6 meters high to the underside of the beam; the second room is 17.5 square meters with 11.1 meters of wall standing between 2.4 meters and 2.6 meters high. Eating and drinking inside the rooms is not permitted. The lawn forecourt can be used for outdoor display.
When an exhibition is running the room is open to visitors and free to enter. Between shows it may be shut, so check the site calendar or telephone 029-857-3355, answered between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The whole site closes on Wednesdays and over the New Year period. No photography rule is published; when work is on display, ask the exhibitor.
By car, leave the Joban Expressway at Sakura-Tsuchiura Interchange and drive about 10 minutes. From Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, take the Kanto Railway bus bound for Tsuchiura Station, get off at Kise and walk about 8 minutes. From Tsuchiura Station on the JR Joban Line, take the Kanto Railway bus bound for Tsukuba Daigaku Chuo to the same stop. A taxi from either station costs roughly 1500 to 2000 yen. The operator publishes its postal address as 1679-1 Kise while the cultural property register gives 1680 Shimizu, Yoshise, a difference of one lot number worth knowing about before you follow a navigation app.
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Q&A
- Can the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate be visited, and is there a charge?
- Yes. The gate is the entrance to the Tsukuba Bunkago site and can be seen and walked through without charge or appointment during opening hours. The gallery room inside is free to enter while an exhibition is running. The site is closed on Wednesdays and over the New Year period.
- When was the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate built, and how is the date known?
- In 1886. The date comes from the munafuda ridge tag surviving near the center of the roof space, whose ink inscription gives both the year and the name of the master carpenter, Hisamatsu Gen'emon of Kaminomuro village. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 November 2015, number 08-0280.
- What are the rooms on either side of the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate?
- North of the passage is a boarded store used for household goods; south of it was an earth-floored workroom that housed the household's tenant farmers before the war, then a relative running a bicycle business, then silkworms in the Showa 40s. The store is now the site office and the workroom is a gallery.
- Can the gallery in the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate be hired?
- Yes. Gallery Nagayamon is let at 8000 yen a day or 35000 yen a week. The main room is 30 square meters with 18.7 meters of hanging wall, and the second room is 17.5 square meters with 11.1 meters. Eating and drinking indoors is not allowed, and the lawn forecourt may be used for outdoor display.
- How do I reach the Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate?
- From Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, take the Kanto Railway bus bound for Tsuchiura Station and get off at Kise, then walk about 8 minutes. From Tsuchiura Station on the JR Joban Line, take the Kanto Railway bus bound for Tsukuba Daigaku Chuo to the same stop. A taxi from either station costs roughly 1500 to 2000 yen. By car it is about 10 minutes from Sakura-Tsuchiura Interchange on the Joban Expressway.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate |
|---|---|
| Location | 1680 Shimizu, Yoshise, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), registration number 08-0280 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 17 November 2015 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 74 square meters; 9 ken along the lane, 2.5 ken deep; eaves height 12 shaku, about 3.6 meters; single story, pantiled hipped roof |
| Owner | No owner name is published in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database; the site is managed by Dengen Plan Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Open without charge during site hours; the interior gallery is open when an exhibition is running; closed Wednesdays and over the New Year period |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010745
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Nemoto Family Residence Nagayamon Gate
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/285320
- City of Tsukuba: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Tsukuba (PDF)
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/material/files/group/156/R8_tsukuba_tourokubunkazai.pdf
- Tsukuba Bunkago: About Tsukuba Bunkago, including the registration opinion by Ando Kunihiro
- https://www.bunkago.com/
- Tsukuba Bunkago: Gallery Nagayamon
- https://www.bunkago.com/gallery
- Tsukuba Bunkago: Access
- https://www.bunkago.com/blank-4
Last verified: 2026.09.07