Former Fujimura Family Residence (Tamura Family Residence) Front Gate

A Modest Gate on the Post Road

The Former Fujimura Family Residence (Tamura Family Residence) Front Gate is an early Meiji (1868–1882) wooden gate facing west onto the old Hokkoku Kaidō in Nonoichi City, Ishikawa Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2021.

It is a munamon, a ridge-roofed gate, with a gabled roof of pantiles and an opening 2.5 metres wide. Earthen walls run off on either side, and together with the Front Storehouse just to the north it forms the street face of the Former Fujimura Family Residence.

When Emperor Meiji toured Hokuriku in 1878, the Fujimura house served as a rest stop. Nonoichi City names this gate, along with the Annex, as keeping its appearance from that time.

Why It Was Registered

The gate was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that, with the walls on either side, it helps form the townscape of the old post town on the Hokkoku Kaidō.

This is not a big gate. At 2.5 metres across, it has none of the bulk of a samurai compound's row gate; it is the restrained entrance of a merchant household. Its value lies in surviving as one piece with its flanking walls and the storehouse next door.

What to Look For

Read the structure from the ground up. Square main posts stand on footing stones of Shakudani stone and carry a crossbeam, the kabuki. Three beams run back from it to support the eave purlins and the gabled roof. Behind the main posts stand square rear posts, tied to them by two tiers of tie beams (nuki).

Shakudani stone is a greenish tuff quarried in Fukui and widely used across Hokuriku for footings and paving; look down at the base of the posts to see its colour.

The two board doors swing inward, so when they are shut the street sees only the plank faces beneath the tiles. Compare the roofline with the tiled coping of the walls on either side and you can see that gate and wall were conceived as a single street front.

Viewing the Front Gate

The Front Gate stands on the old highway and can be viewed from the public road. Inside it is private property, and entry is not permitted.

From across the highway you can frame the gate, the walls on either side and the Front Storehouse to the north in one view. The rear posts and tie beams are easiest to read from an angle beside the gate, but please do not step through it. Directions are on the Former Fujimura Family Residence page.