Hatakoshi Family Residence South Gate

What the Hatakoshi Family Residence South Gate Is

The Hatakoshi Family Residence South Gate (波多腰家住宅南門, Hatakoshi-ke Jūtaku Minamimon) is an early Showa-era timber kabukimon gate in the Hata district of Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000 under the number 20-0046.

It is the everyday entrance, set toward the east end of the compound's south fence. Like the front gate it is a kabukimon, two posts joined at the top by a tie beam, and it has board doors that open inward. The opening is 2 metres wide.

The national register dates it to the early Showa era, which suggests the first years after 1926.

The Southern Edge of the Compound

The Hatakoshi Family Residence South Gate was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs begins its description not with the gate but with the outline of the property: about 2,000 tsubo, sheltered by trees on the west, the north and part of the east, and bounded on the south by a lane and a fence with board panelling at its base.

The south gate opens in that fence for daily use. The front gate on the west is the formal entrance; the south gate is the side door, reached directly from the lane.

Both entrances use the same kabukimon form. Giving the formal and the everyday entrance the same design lends the outer edge of the compound a single, consistent face.

What to Look For

From the lane, the gate appears as an opening in a long run of board-based fence, and fence and gate together form the southern edge of the compound.

Notice that the doors swing inward. They never block the narrow lane, a sensible detail for a gate on a small street.

Following the lane, you walk the whole southern edge of the 2,000-tsubo property.

Visiting the Hatakoshi Family Residence South Gate

The Hatakoshi Family Residence South Gate faces the lane on the south side and can be seen from there. The compound behind it is a private home, and the gate may still be in daily use, so do not linger in front of it or block the way. The grounds cannot be entered.

Directions and viewing conditions for the whole compound are on the Hatakoshi Family Residence page.