Shimanouchi Katsuyuki Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

What the Shimanouchi Katsuyuki Family Residence Nagayamon Gate Is

The Shimanouchi Katsuyuki Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (島内克之家住宅長屋門) is a single-storey timber gatehouse of 1911 in Kamioka, Noichi-cho, Konan City, Kochi Prefecture, listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 June 2002.

A Nagayamon is a gate built into a long range of rooms, and this one forms the south front of the Shimanouchi estate, its ridge running east to west. A water channel follows the west side of the property and turns east along the south; the gatehouse is set back a short distance north of it.

It measures 6 and a half Ken by 2 and a half ken, with a hip-and-gable Irimoya-zukuri roof of pantiles and a building area of 64 square metres. The board fence that runs west from the gate is included in the same registration.

Why It Was Listed

The Nagayamon Gate was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a large, tall gatehouse that signals the standing of the household. In the countryside, a gate of this kind, with rooms built along one or both sides of the entrance, was a mark of a substantial family. At 6 and a half ken long under a full hip-and-gable roof, the Shimanouchi Katsuyuki Family Residence Nagayamon Gate has the presence to carry that role.

From its southeast corner the outer wall bends away toward the east side of the property, while a clapboard fence runs off to the west. Stone and plaster on one side, timber on the other: the two walls frame the gate and together make up the formal front of the homestead.

What to Look For

Notice where the entrance is. The double doors and a small side door for everyday use open at the right-hand end of the front, not in the middle, and the rest of the facade is wall.

On the side wall a sayagata pattern, the interlocking key fret made of broken swastika forms, is worked into Tosa plaster. It is a surprising flourish on what is essentially a working building, and it tells you the family thought of the gate as its public face.

Then take in the height. The official description goes out of its way to call it tall, and the high eaves let the hip-and-gable roof read large. Stand back from the front to judge the proportions.

Compare the board fence beside the gate with the outer wall to the east. Built in the same year, they are made of completely different materials, timber on the west and a stone base with Tosa plaster on the east.

Visiting

The Shimanouchi Katsuyuki Family Residence Nagayamon Gate is the entrance to a private home, and there is no access through it. Neither the Konan City nor the Kochi Prefecture cultural property lists give any visiting information (checked 26 September 2026).

As the front of the estate, the gatehouse is probably the easiest of the seven structures to see from outside. It has not been confirmed, though, whether there is a place to stand along the southern channel, or from where the patterned side wall can be seen.

No notice about photography was found. This is a family's front gate; keep a respectful distance and do not block the way in.