Sato Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

The Estate's Front Door

The Sato Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (佐藤家住宅長屋門, Satō-ke Jūtaku Nagayamon) is a late Edo-period gatehouse forming the street entrance to the estate of a former village headman's family in Chohoji (Chōhōji), Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2008.

It stands at the east end of the estate's southern boundary, facing south onto the street. The roof is a simple gabled Kirizuma-zukuri form laid with pantiles. Because it follows the shape of the lot, the building is not a straight rectangle; its plan kinks slightly along its length. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records it as a single-storey timber building with a building area of 6.7 square metres.

A Nagayamon combines a gateway with rooms or storage built into the same range, so the gate is also a small building. In the countryside this was the entrance of choice for village headmen and other leading households, and the Satō gate announces the family's standing to anyone passing on the road.

Gateway, Servants' Room and Storeroom

The Sato Family Residence Nagayamon Gate has 3 parts. In the middle is the gateway itself. To the east is what was once the menservants' room, where live-in male workers slept. On the west side a storeroom has been added, left open on its north face toward the yard.

The gateway is closed by a pair of wooden doors that swing open in the middle. In front of them, on the gable side, is a small wicket door, a Kugurido, with a raised sill you step over. The big doors could stay shut while people came and went through the wicket.

The Satō family did more than farm. They ran a carting business with pack horses, organised with other farmers along the Tanba Kaidō road, so the front gate had to handle goods as well as people. Putting the gateway, a room for workers and a storeroom under one roof reflects that working household.

Why It Was Registered, and What to Look For

The gate was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. From the west end of its storeroom, a tsuiji earthen wall 57 metres long encloses the south and west sides of the estate, and a stretch of 11 metres runs off from the gate's east end. With those walls, the gatehouse forms the estate's southern face.

From the street, look for the gateway and the servants' room lined up beneath the gabled roof, and for the little wicket beside the double doors. Of the 9 registered structures, this is the easiest to see from outside.

Visiting

The Sato Family Residence Nagayamon Gate is the front entrance of a private home, and you cannot pass through it. The exterior can be seen from the public road, but please do not linger in front of the gate or look inside when it is open, and keep photography to the street. There is no admission charge or booking system.