Iida Family Residence Gatehouse

What the Gatehouse Is

The Iida Family Residence Gatehouse (飯田家住宅門番所, Iida-ke Jūtaku Monbanjo) is a late Meiji-period single-storey timber gatekeeper's lodge in Toyoshina Takibe, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2005. It was built for a gatekeeper who watched who came and went, and the registration also covers the earthen wall and kabukimon gate between it and the main house.

It stands at the southwest of the lot, joined to the east end of storage shed 2. The block runs east to west, 3.5 bays by 3 bays, with a building area of 35 square meters. Its registration number is 20-0247.

The register describes it as a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof, 35 square meters, with gate and wall attached, so the lodge, the gate and the wall form one registered property.

The Entrance to the Estate

Registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, the Iida Family Residence Gatehouse is connected to the main house by a tiled earthen wall in which a kabukimon opens. A kabukimon is a gate of two posts joined at the top by a heavy crossbeam called the kabuki.

Placing a guard lodge right beside the gate put control of the entrance in one spot. Squeezed between storage shed 2, which closes the southwest corner, and the wall running to the main house, the gatehouse holds the doorway to the enclosed compound.

What to Look For

Look at the roofline. At the middle of the tiled Kirizuma-zukuri ridge sits a raised koshi-yane, a small secondary roof lifted clear of the main one to let smoke escape. It suggests a fire was kept burning inside the lodge.

The walls are white plaster in the Shinkabe manner, with the posts left visible. The storehouses and storage shed 2 bury their posts in thick okabe walls; the gatehouse shows its timber frame, which gives it the lighter look of a place where people sat and waited.

The doorway is in the middle of the north wall, fitted with sliding doors. The entrance of the Iida Family Residence Gatehouse faces into the grounds rather than toward the road.

Viewing the Gatehouse

The Iida Family Residence Gatehouse is inside a private residence and the interior is not open.

The entrance, with its gate and wall, lies at the southwest of the estate, and that is where to look from outside. The ground inside the gate is private, though, and must not be entered. Avoid lingering at the gate and keep photography to exteriors taken from the road.

Directions to the estate and tips for a considerate visit are on the Iida Family Residence page.