Matsuoka Family Residence Brewery Gate and Fence

A Gate Between Work and Home

The Matsuoka Family Residence Brewery Gate and Fence (松岡家住宅酒造場門及び塀) is a reinforced-concrete gateway and wall built in the early Shōwa era in the middle of the Matsuoka sake brewer's compound in Hongō, Hidaka Village, Kōchi Prefecture, and registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 March 2004.

The gateposts frame an opening 2 meters wide, and the whole structure runs 6 meters. It has nothing to do with the perimeter walls; it stands inside the property, between the brewery to the west and the family's quarters to the east.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Matsuoka Family Residence Brewery Gate and Fence as a pivotal piece of the site, the line that separated the brewery's working space from the household's living space. It is small, but without it the plan of the compound makes less sense.

Concrete Dressed as Stone

The Matsuoka Family Residence Brewery Gate and Fence is entirely reinforced concrete, yet its wall faces are scored with joints that imitate coursed stonework. The concrete was cast, and the lines of stone blocks were cut into it afterwards.

The two wing walls are different. The left one runs straight and joins the Annex; the right one curves in plan and ends in a post of its own. The straight and curved lines were probably set out to follow the paths through the site.

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. Where the stone walls form the outer face of the compound, this gate divides its interior, and it keeps visible the fact that a brewer's household was two worlds, work and home, on one plot.

The Curve and the Joints

Standing at the Matsuoka Family Residence Brewery Gate and Fence, follow the curve of the right-hand wall first. Watch how the false stone joints are spaced around the bend, and you get a sense of the formwork the builders had to make.

Then look where the left wing meets the Annex. The Annex is dated to early Taishō, the gate to early Shōwa, so the wall was attached to a building already standing. The junction may show that sequence.

From the gate, turn west and you face the Pressing House and the sake breweries; turn east and you face the Main House. Few spots explain the compound as quickly.

Seeing the Gate

The Matsuoka Family Residence Brewery Gate and Fence stands in the middle of the grounds and cannot be seen from the lane. Visit during an event at the Hidaka Sakagura Hall or arrange access with the Hidaka Sakagura Association.

Booking details and directions are on the Matsuoka Family Residence page.