Nakamura Family Residence Gate and Fence

The Nakamura Family Residence Gate and Fence

The Nakamura Family Residence Gate and Fence (中村家住宅門及び塀, Nakamura-ke Jūtaku Mon oyobi Hei) in Misato Yutaka, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, is a gate with attached fencing built in the Taishō era, between 1912 and 1925, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 27, 2006. It is the youngest of the five registered structures on the Nakamura homestead.

It runs between the main house and the front storehouse, closing off the forecourt in front of the house from the inner yard behind. The gate is a Munamon 1.2 meters wide with a gabled roof of sheet metal. Fencing extends 1.7 meters in total on either side of the gate, and a taller section continues for 2.7 meters to the front storehouse. All of it is timber roofed with sheet metal, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the fence a total length of 4.4 meters.

Why it was registered

The Nakamura Family Residence Gate and Fence was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. According to the Agency, a gate and fence dividing the forecourt from the inner yard is a common companion to honmune-zukuri houses in the Chūshin region of central Nagano.

On its own it is a modest structure. Its value lies in how it works with the main house. Seen from the front, it ties the house and the front storehouse into a single frontage; from the inside, it screens the family's working yard from the forecourt. It is registered as one of the parts that make a Chūshin homestead read as a whole.

What to look for

A munamon is a simple gate type: two posts joined by a crossbeam, with a small gabled roof set on top. The Nakamura gate, at 1.2 meters across, is wide enough for one person and deliberately low-key.

The fence changes height along its length. Beside the gate it stays low, while the stretch toward the front storehouse rises higher, its lower part clad in vertical boards. At 4.4 meters overall it is short, yet by filling the gap between two buildings it firmly closes the southwest corner of the forecourt.

The gate and fence are roofed in sheet metal, not tile. Next to the tiled main house and storehouses, the lighter roofing is a visible marker of their later, Taishō date.

Visiting

The Nakamura Family Residence Gate and Fence is part of a private home. The gate cannot be passed and the grounds are not open, and no viewing or photography contact is published (checked September 2026).

The location of the homestead and general notes for visitors are on the Nakamura Family Residence (Azumino) page.