Rikyudo Sakai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

A Gatehouse That Draws the Southern Edge

The Rikyudo Sakai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (利久堂酒井家住宅長屋門, Rikyūdō Sakai-ke Jūtaku Nagayamon) is a gatehouse in Kawai Shinden, Nagano City, built around 1887 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2001. It forms the street front of the homestead built by the Kitamura family, who practiced medicine here from the Meiji era, and runs east to west just south of the Main House.

The building is about 25 meters across and covers 169 square meters. It is timber, mostly single-storey with a partial upper floor, under a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. The Agency for Cultural Affairs places the estate southeast of central Nagano, close to the left bank of the Sai River.

A Nagayamon is a long gate building with rooms or storage on either side of the passage. In rural Japan it was typically the entrance of a leading village household, a way of stating rank at the property line. The Nagayamon Gate here likely did the same for the Kitamura family.

Registered for Its Place in the Landscape

The Rikyudo Sakai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate carries registration number 20-0101 under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape. Where the Main House was recognized for its plan, the gate was recognized for what it does to the view of the property from outside.

Its 25 meters of tiled roof and wall effectively are the southern outline of the estate. In a compound where house, wall and storehouses survive together from the same period, this is the face the homestead turns to the world.

What to Notice at the Rikyudo Sakai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

Look first at the roof, which steps. The western section is set a level higher than the eastern section, so instead of a single continuous ridge the building carries two roofs of different heights side by side.

Then find the opening. The gateway is not centered. It sits at the east end of the higher western section, right beside the point where the roofline drops. Seen from the front, the step in the roof works almost like a signpost for the entrance.

The gate doors are large and heavily built, and they swing inward toward the house. No published record explains why the western section was built higher, so the reason remains an open question.

Seeing the Rikyudo Sakai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

The Rikyudo Sakai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate stands on private land, and no public opening has been announced (checked September 2026). Even if the doors happen to be open, do not walk through them.

Because it stands at the southern edge of the grounds, the gate is probably the easiest of the five registered structures to see from outside. The details worth finding are the step in the roof and the off-center gateway beside it. Take photographs from outside the property and keep clear of traffic and residents.

Visiting inquiries go to the Cultural Properties Division of Nagano City. Directions are on the Rikyudo Sakai Family Residence page.