Urushibara Family Residence Middle Gate and Wing Walls

What the Middle Gate and Wing Walls Are

The Urushibara Family Residence Middle Gate and Wing Walls (漆原家住宅中門及び袖塀, Urushibara-ke Jūtaku Chūmon oyobi Sodebei) in Mitani-cho, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, are a mid Meiji era (1883 to 1897) gate and plastered wall dividing the entry court of a rural samurai estate from its formal garden, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 27, 2023.

They are built of timber under a tiled coping. The gate opening is 1.3 meters wide, and the whole run of wall is 25 meters long. The Agency for Cultural Affairs classes them as a structure rather than a building.

A Line Through the Garden

The Urushibara Family Residence Middle Gate and Wing Walls are register no. 37-0483, listed for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency credits them with giving the estate the look proper to an old established family.

From the nagayamon a stone path runs straight to the main house, and the Sodobei wing wall stands along its west side. East of the wall is the entry court, the everyday route from the gate to the door of the house. West of it is the garden viewed from the reception rooms. The wall's job is to keep those two worlds apart.

Two Gates, Two Faces

The wall runs north to south, from the main house's formal entrance (Shikidai) down to the nagayamon. Near the house it is broken by the middle gate, built in the Yakuimon style. At the south end the wall turns east and ends in a second, simpler bracketed gate (Udekimon) closed with sliding doors. One wall, two gates of different rank.

Look at the two sides of the wall. The east face, toward the entry court, is plastered right over the posts (Ōkabe) and finished in white Shikkui. The west face, toward the garden, leaves the posts exposed (Shinkabe), is finished in black plaster and has wooden wainscoting. The more laborious finish is on the side guests would see from the reception rooms.

According to Shinya Ishida of the Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education, the family keeps these plastered walls up by patching damaged sections one at a time.

Seeing the Middle Gate and Wing Walls

The Urushibara Family Residence Middle Gate and Wing Walls stand inside the nagayamon and are almost entirely hidden from the road. The estate is a private home and is not open, so they cannot be approached.

Photographs of the black-plastered west face and of the gate seen from below are published in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database.