Former Fujimura Family Residence (Tamura Family Residence) Rear Gate

The 1937 Gate on the North Street

The Former Fujimura Family Residence (Tamura Family Residence) Rear Gate is a wooden gate built in 1937 on the northern street of a townhouse compound in Honmachi, Nonoichi City, Ishikawa Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2021.

Like the Front Gate it is a munamon, but its gabled roof is sheathed in copper and swells gently upward in a mukuri curve, and its opening is 2.0 metres wide. Its address is 140-1 Honmachi 2-chome, a separate lot number from the 133 of the main buildings.

In 1937 the Tamura family built a new Main House deep in the lot, and the Rear Gate and the Board Fence running east and west of it went up in the same year. Where the Meiji Front Gate faces the old highway, the family gave the northern street a Shōwa gate of its own.

Why It Was Registered

The gate was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as shaping the character of the property's northern edge.

Set it beside the Front Gate and the change of era is plain. Both are ridge-roofed gates, but the older one is a straightforward tiled frame, while the Rear Gate adds a curved copper roof, a lattice transom and metal end caps. The polish of early Shōwa house building reaches all the way down to this small structure.

What to Look For

Start with the roofline. A mukuri roof bows slightly upward, the reverse of the familiar upswept eave, and with a thin copper skin the whole roof looks soft and light.

The frame uses square posts bridged by a lintel, with paired lower and upper beams above it carrying the eave purlins. Instead of timber rear posts, the gate is braced with iron rods. The double board doors open in the middle, and a lattice transom fills the space above the head rail.

Step closer and you will see metal caps nailed over the ends of the rafters and beams. They protect exposed end grain from the rain, and in a row they give the eaves a crisp finish. The lattice and copper coping of the Board Fence on either side were designed to match this gate.

Viewing the Rear Gate

The Rear Gate faces the northern street and can be viewed from the public road. Behind it is a private home, and entry is not permitted.

After looking at the Front Gate, Earthen Wall and Front Storehouse on the old highway, walk round to the north to find the Rear Gate and Board Fence. The curved roof reads best from a little way back and straight on; the metal rafter caps are clearest from close by, looking up. Directions are on the Former Fujimura Family Residence page.