About the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate
The Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate (松本家住宅表門, Matsumoto-ke Jūtaku Omotemon) is an early Showa period (1926 to 1945) gate on the road north of the main house of the Matsumoto estate in Kodera, Koryo Town, Nara Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2017.
The Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate is a one-storey timber structure 3.5 by 1.5 bays (ken), with a hip-and-gable roof of pantiles and a building area of 21 m². The registration also covers a side wicket to the west and the clay walls running east and west. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a gate of imposing construction.
A Gate with a Gatekeeper's Room
A gatekeeper's room is built into the west side of the gate. A gate with space for someone to sit and watch belongs to a household that needed to keep track of who came and went.
The doorway is doubled. Outer board doors slide apart, and behind them a pair of lattice doors slides apart in the same way. With the boards open, the lattice lets light and air through while still closing the gateway; at night the board doors shut it completely.
A small wicket door is cut into the west wing wall, so that people could pass without opening the main doors. Everyday traffic presumably used this.
Walls on Either Side
Clay walls run east and west from the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate, closing the street side of the South Compound. Beyond the east wall the northeast barn carries the line further along the road.
On the inner, southern side another wall extends from the gate with a garden gate set in it. Once through the front gate, a visitor would have been directed either to the main house or into the garden.
The gate was renovated in 1982. It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, and faces the gatehouse of the North Compound across the road, the two together framing the village street.
Seeing the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate
The Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate belongs to a private home and visitors cannot go through it.
Because it stands right on the road, it is the easiest of the 13 buildings to see. The hipped roof and the full length of the walls are easiest to take in from across the road, near the North Compound gatehouse. Please photograph only from the public road and do not linger in the gateway. Directions are on the Matsumoto Family Residence (Koryo Town) page.
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Q&A
- When was the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate built?
- The national database dates it to the early Showa period (1926 to 1945). It was renovated in 1982.
- How big is the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate?
- A one-storey timber gate, 3.5 by 1.5 bays (ken), with a hip-and-gable pantile roof and a building area of 21 m², plus a west wicket and clay walls.
- What is unusual about the doors of the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate?
- The doorway has sliding board doors outside and sliding lattice doors inside, and there is a small wicket door in the west wing wall.
- Why does the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate have a gatekeeper's room?
- The room on the west side let someone watch the entrance, a feature suited to the front gate of a wealthy farming estate.
- Can I see the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate?
- Yes, from the outside. It faces the public road, though visitors cannot pass through it.
Basic Information
| Name | Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate (松本家住宅表門) |
|---|---|
| Location | 308 Kodera, Koryo-cho, Kitakatsuragi-gun, Nara Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | 2017 (registered) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 21 m² (3.5 ken by 1.5 ken) |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private home; exterior from the road) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): 松本家住宅表門
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012004
- Cultural Heritage Online: 松本家住宅表門 (Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/256565
- Nara Prefecture: List of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in Nara (PDF)
- https://www.pref.nara.lg.jp/documents/22241/bunkazaiitiran.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.30
