Former Yamada Family Residence Back Gate, Kitchen Miso Storehouse and Office

What the Former Yamada Family Residence Back Gate, Kitchen Miso Storehouse and Office is

The Former Yamada Family Residence Back Gate, Kitchen Miso Storehouse and Office (旧山田家住宅裏門・台所味噌蔵及び事務所, Kyū-Yamada-ke Jūtaku Uramon, Daidokoro Misogura oyobi Jimusho) is a single range of buildings put up around 1880 in Ebe, Nakano City, Nagano Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 29, 2016. Continuing west from the pawn and archive storehouses along the north edge of the estate, it runs from the kitchen miso storehouse in the east, through the office, to the back gate.

It is timber, mostly single storey with a partial 2nd floor, roofed in pantiles (Sangawara-buki), with a building area of 87 m². Nakano City describes the back gate as a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) Nagayamon of 2 storeys, a gatehouse with rooms either side of the passage, and the miso storehouse and office as a gabled single-storey block. On the street side the whole range, office included, is finished in thick white plaster like the storehouses beside it.

Why it was registered

The Former Yamada Family Residence Back Gate, Kitchen Miso Storehouse and Office was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs highlights the Western-style interior of the office, the solid zelkova (keyaki) back gate, and the unified white plaster front that makes the whole north side read as one.

A kitchen store, a counting room and a gate are three quite different things. Here they share one roofline and present the street with the same face as the storehouses.

According to a survey report on surviving gates of Iiyama Castle cited by the city, the back gate originally belonged to the castle and was moved here around 1879 to 1880. The city also thinks its upper roof frame was cut down so that the gate would match the storehouses on either side.

What to look for

The zelkova gate

Among the white storehouse walls on the north side, the zelkova gate gives the estate the bearing of a leading farming family. Compare its weight from the street with the timber frame you see from inside the grounds, and notice how a gate said to come from a castle has been trimmed to sit level with the storehouses.

The office and counting room

The office has a Western-style room with plastered walls and a plaster ceiling medallion still in place. It also has an earth-floored area (Doma) and served as the counting room. It began life as a woodshed and was refitted inside in the Taisho period. White storehouse walls outside and a Western room inside make an unexpected pairing.

The base of the miso storehouse

From the kitchen miso storehouse to the office, the north wall stands on rounded "botamochi" stones along the water channel, topped by white plaster and dark boarding. Follow the line east to the pawn and archive storehouses from the Route 403 side.

Visiting

Nakano City lists the back gate and the kitchen miso storehouse and office among the buildings open to visitors, so on opening days you can see the gate and office from inside the grounds with a regular admission ticket. Visits are by advance booking; ask at reception whether indoor photography is allowed.

The city's New Year notice shows the back gate hung with a shimenawa straw rope. Opening hours, admission and directions are on the Former Yamada Family Residence page.