Shin-Yakushiji Temple East Gate

An older, simpler gate on the east side

The Shin-Yakushiji Temple East Gate (新薬師寺東門, Shin-Yakushiji Higashimon) is an early Kamakura-period gate on the eastern edge of Shin-Yakushiji in Takabatake, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property in 1917. It is a Munamon, a gate standing on just two posts, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Hongawarabuki tiles.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the Shin-Yakushiji East Gate to the early Kamakura period, a step earlier than the late Kamakura South Gate, and the temple likewise describes it as the older and simpler of the two. Among the medieval buildings in the grounds, it belongs to the earliest phase.

It was designated on 13 August 1917, the same day as the Jizo Hall, some 16 years after the South Gate had been protected in 1901.

A gate on two legs

A munamon is about as pared-down as a Japanese gate gets. Two main posts carry the doors and the roof; there are no auxiliary posts front or back, unlike the four-legged South Gate. The ridge runs straight over the two posts, so seen from the side the whole roof appears to be balanced on a pair of pillars.

According to the temple, the East Gate's age and simple structure suggest it was built as a two-legged munamon from the start rather than as a four-legged gate. The result is a clear hierarchy in the grounds: a formal four-legged gate at the front entrance, a plainer two-post gate on the east.

The detail that sets the Shin-Yakushiji East Gate apart is at the top of the posts. The temple explains that the head of each main post is split in two, with a flat, board-like ita-Kaerumata bracket slotted between the halves, an unusual arrangement that reflects early Kamakura carpentry. The kaerumata is a support that takes the load of the member above it, and the flat board form is known as an early type.

Look up, not across

At the Shin-Yakushiji East Gate the interest is above eye level. Look up at the head of a main post and find where it forks around the board bracket. With so few pieces between post and roof, the whole structure of the gate can be read almost at a glance.

Then walk to the side. With no auxiliary posts, the gate has almost no depth, and the roof looks heavy by comparison. Having just passed through the four-legged South Gate, you see how much the form of two Kamakura gates can differ with rank and date.

Seeing the East Gate

The Shin-Yakushiji East Gate is not used as an entrance today; visitors come and go by the South Gate. To see it, enter through the South Gate, walk around the east side of the main hall, and view the East Gate from inside the grounds.

There is no interior space to visit, so viewing is limited to the exterior. The split post heads and the ridge detail are easier to make out if you stand back a little from the gate rather than directly beneath it.