What the Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate Is
The Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (河合家住宅長屋門, Kawai-ke Jūtaku Nagayamon) is a Nagayamon gatehouse built in 1922 in Kitayagicho, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 7 August 2009. It faces the street on the north side of the merchant estate, and a wall built the same year joins it from the east.
A nagayamon is a long, narrow building with rooms or storage on either side and the gateway cut through it, the formal entrance of samurai residences and wealthy farming and merchant houses. This one is a single-storey timber building 19 metres by 3.7 metres, with a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof in round-and-flat Hongawarabuki tiling and a building area of 72 square metres.
The estate's main front faces west onto the Shimotsumichi, but this gate faces north. In the Taisho era the family gave the estate a second, formal entrance on the northern street, separate from the Edo-period front on the old road. The detached parlor and tea room had gone up toward the east in 1921; the gate and wall followed.
Why It Was Listed
The Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. It runs a dark wall for 19 metres along the northern street and, with the wall continuing to the east, gives the estate its northern face.
Its date deserves attention. The nagayamon is a form that calls to mind the Edo period, yet the Kawai family built this one new, close to the end of the Taisho era, as a formal gate announcing the standing of the house. The estate lets you compare an Edo merchant front facing the old road with a Taisho gateway facing north, on a single property.
The roofline has a refinement. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the ridge is set lower over the eastern part, so the 19-metre roof does not run as one unbroken line.
What to Look For
The walls of the Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate are finished in black shikkui plaster, with Namako-kabe on the lower part: flat tiles fixed to the wall and their joints built up in rounded ridges of white plaster, so a white lattice pattern stands out against the black. Windows open in the upper wall.
The gateway sits a little east of centre and is 4.0 metres wide. A pair of board doors hangs in the central bay, with a Kugurido wicket door on each side, so people could come and go while the main doors stayed shut.
The step in the ridge is easiest to see from across the street. Find where the lower eastern ridge meets the higher western one, then compare it with the position of the gateway. From the eastern end of the gatehouse the wall carries on and turns the corner.
Visiting
The Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate is privately owned and you cannot pass through it (checked 26 September 2026). It faces the northern street, so the exterior can be seen from the public road.
The raised plaster joints of the tiled lower wall and the grain of the board doors can be seen close up. For the stepped ridge and the full 19 metres, cross to the opposite side. Being a north face, the wall gets little direct sun, and it looks much the same on an overcast day.
No notice prohibiting photography was found. This is a household gate, so do not point a lens through the wicket doors or the gaps in the boards. Directions to the estate and the conditions for seeing it are set out on the Kawai Family Residence (Kitayagi) page.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate?
- You cannot pass through it, but it faces the northern street, so the exterior can be seen from the public road.
- When was the Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate built?
- In 1922. The wall that joins it from the east was built the same year.
- How big is the Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate?
- 19 metres by 3.7 metres, single-storey timber, with a building area of 72 square metres. The gateway is 4.0 metres wide.
- What are the walls of the Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate like?
- Black plaster above, a lower band of namako-kabe tiles with raised white joints, and windows in the upper wall.
- How does the gateway of the Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate work?
- A pair of board doors hangs in the central bay with a wicket door on each side, so people could pass while the main doors stayed shut.
Basic Information
| Name | Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (河合家住宅長屋門) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-168-1 Kitayagicho, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register no. 29-0139 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2009/8/7 (Heisei 21) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 19 metres by 3.7 metres, building area 72 square metres, gateway 4.0 metres wide. Timber, single-storey, gabled roof in round-and-flat tiles |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Closed. Exterior only, from the public road. |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Kawai Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007796
- Kawai Eiji Family Residence (Kashihara City Tourism Association)
- https://kashihara-kanko.or.jp/spot/detail.php?sid=S00095
Last verified: 2026.09.26
