Tatsumi Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

The Gate on the North Front

The Tatsumi Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (辰巳家住宅長屋門, Tatsumi-ke Jūtaku Nagayamon) is a Nagayamon gatehouse built in 1915 in Hōryūji-nishi, Ikaruga Town, Nara Prefecture, registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 24, 2001. It stands on the north side of the Tatsumi estate, a little east of center, and serves as the main entrance.

A nagayamon combines a gateway and rooms under one long roof, a form used by landed families across rural Japan. This one is a single-story timber building with a tiled hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) roof and a building area of 52 square meters. The stretch of earthen wall running west from the gate is included in its registration.

Why It Was Registered: Choice Timber and Black Plaster

The gatehouse was registered, as number 29-0046, under the criterion for buildings that would be difficult to reproduce. The official description credits two things: carefully selected timber and walls finished in black Shikkui lime plaster.

Black plaster is the detail to look for. Lime plaster is usually left white. A black finish takes more work to apply and gives the surface a deep, slightly glossy look, which makes the Tatsumi Family Residence Nagayamon Gate read as more formal than a working farm gate.

The hip-and-gable roof points the same way. A plain gabled roof would have sheltered the gate just as well.

Doors, Wickets and a Lattice Window

In the center, a pair of hinged doors is flanked by small wicket doors, the kind you duck through. The big doors could stay shut while people came and went through the wickets.

A room sits on each side of the passage. The west room has a projecting wooden lattice window on the street side, a pale grid set into the dark wall, and the most expressive part of the facade.

Together with the First Storehouse at the northwest corner, the gate forms the public face of the estate. The earthen wall along this north side is built a step higher than elsewhere to match.

Visiting

The Tatsumi Family Residence Nagayamon Gate is the easiest part of the estate to see. From the lane on the north side you can take in the black walls, the doors and wickets, and the lattice window of the west room.

Everything beyond the gate is a private home, and as of September 2026 no public opening has been announced. Do not step through the gate or photograph through gaps in the doors, and keep any exterior photos brief and out of the way of passing traffic. Directions are on the Tatsumi Family Residence page.