The Lookout by the Gate
The Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse (畠中家住宅番小屋, Hatanaka-ke Jūtaku Bangoya) is a single-storey timber hut built in 1886 in the south-west corner of the Hatanaka family estate in Doi, Aki City, Kochi Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2010. Only 19 square metres in area, it nonetheless forms the front of the estate together with the main gate.
Its ridge runs east to west and it measures 6.8 by 2.8 metres. As the name suggests, it was presumably built for a watchman keeping an eye on who came and went.
Part of the Formal Frontage
The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse and the main gate together make up the estate's omotegamae, the formal frontage where gate, walls and outbuildings present the household to the street.
The gate stands at the centre of the south side and the hut at the corner. The hut dates from 1886, the same year as the main gate, the middle gate and the garden gate, which suggests the whole front of the estate was laid out in one campaign. The criterion is a contribution to the historic landscape.
Wave-Pattern Ridge and Lattice Window
The Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse has a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles, and its ridge is dressed with flat tiles laid in the seigaiha wave pattern. That is an elaborate finish for a hut, and the same wave ridge appears on the main gate, so the two roofs seen from the street match.
The hut sits on a Kikkōzumi foundation of stones dressed into hexagons. Its walls are clad in Shitami-itabari clapboarding up to a high dado, with Tosa-shikkui above, and the south face toward the road has a window of fine vertical lattice, the kind of window a lookout would sit behind.
Visiting
The Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse stands on private land and its interior is closed. Because it occupies the south-west corner on the south boundary, though, it is probably one of the easier parts of the estate to make out from outside.
Look at the lattice window and the wave-pattern ridge from the road without stepping onto the property, and keep in mind that this corner is close to the main gate.
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Q&A
- What is the Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse?
- A single-storey timber hut of 1886 in the south-west corner of the estate, presumably for a watchman. With the main gate it forms the estate's formal frontage.
- When was the Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse registered?
- On 28 April 2010, together with the other eight items of the Hatanaka Family Residence, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.
- What is the ridge decoration on the Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse?
- Flat tiles laid in the seigaiha wave pattern, the same ridge treatment used on the main gate.
- What are the main features of the Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse?
- A hexagonal stone foundation, clapboard cladding to a high dado with Tosa plaster above, and a fine lattice window on the south face.
- Can the Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse be seen from outside?
- Probably better than most of the estate, since it sits in the south-west corner on the south boundary. The interior is closed, so please view it from the road only.
Basic Information
| Name | Hatanaka Family Residence Guardhouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 633 Higashitakazono, Doi, Aki City, Kochi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2010/4/28 (Heisei 22) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 19 square metres |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (exterior from the road only) |
References
- 畠中家住宅番小屋 (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008210
Last verified: 2026.09.27
