Naito Family Residence Nagayamon Gate and Wall

A Closed, Plastered Gatehouse

The Naito Family Residence Nagayamon Gate and Wall (内藤家住宅長屋門及び塀) is a Nagayamon gatehouse with an attached wall of the early Meiji era (1868–1882) in Ikedacho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on August 7, 2023 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber gatehouse with a tiled roof and a building area of 38 square metres, and a tiled timber wall 3.7 metres long, built in the early Meiji era and altered between 1965 and 1974; registration number 29-0354.

A Gatehouse at the Northeast Corner

The Naito Family Residence Nagayamon Gate stands at the northeast corner of the compound of an old family in a formerly moated village, and faces east (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It has a gabled, pantiled roof entered on the long side; the central two bays form the gateway, framed by short wing walls and closed by sliding board doors that part to either side. The rooms to the north and south of the opening are used for storage.

According to Nara City, the gatehouse faces the road, and its walls are lime-plastered above board wainscoting, white on the street front and grey around the opening and at the back. The wall named in the registration is a tiled timber wall 3.7 metres long (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes the distinctive way the lintel and beam over the gateway are fully covered in plaster, and the closed, almost windowless front; it registered the gate and wall for shaping the historic landscape of the village.

Nara City describes them as key parts of the setting of a wealthy farming household.

What to Look For

Look at the lintel and beam above the gateway. Rather than leaving the timber exposed, the builders plastered over it so that it reads as one flat surface with the wall (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Notice too how few windows there are; the gatehouse turns a closed face to the road. The white and grey colouring can be seen on the front and around the opening (Nara City).

Visiting

The Naito Family Residence Nagayamon Gate faces the road (Nara City). The residence is a private home, and no official information on access beyond the gate was found.