Nakahara Family Residence Rear Gate and Wall

Closing Off the North Side

The Nakahara Family Residence Rear Gate and Wall (中原家住宅裏門及び塀, Nakahara-ke Jūtaku Uramon oyobi Hei) is a gate and boundary wall built around 1935 along the north side of the Nakahara estate in Akatsuka, Nishi-ku, Niigata City, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on May 10, 2018.

The rear gate opens at the west end of the north side, and the wall runs the full length of that boundary, 63 meters in all. The gate is timber with a copper roof and a span of 2.8 meters; the wall is timber under sheet metal. Gate and wall are registered together as one entry.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the pair to around 1935, and the preservation society's guide map gives 1935 for the rear gate. The front gate on the road side carries the same date, so the estate's formal front and working back were refitted at about the same time.

Why It Was Registered

The Nakahara Rear Gate and Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The agency's commentary says it gives order to the back of the headman's estate.

The gate is an Udekimon braced with Hikaebashira, secondary posts set behind the main posts. That is a sturdier build than the front gate, which has none, and it suits a gate used for daily comings and goings and deliveries. The copper roof sets it apart from the sheet-metal front gate as well.

The wall follows the front wall's pattern: exposed-post Shinkabe panels finished in white Shikkui plaster above a band of lapped boards. Near the rear gate, though, the whole wall switches to plain boarding, likely because that stretch took the most knocks from people and carts and boards were easier to patch.

What to Look For

The detail worth finding is that switch in finish. Plaster and boarding run along the north edge exactly as they do at the front, then give way to boards just before the gate. The estate kept one look front and back but changed material where use demanded it.

View the gate from an angle rather than head-on. Main posts, bracing posts, brackets and gable then separate into layers, and a gate only 2.8 meters wide gains real depth.

Visiting the Rear Gate and Wall

The Nakahara Rear Gate and Wall is part of a private home and is normally off-limits. On the spring and autumn open days you can see the wall and the inner side of the gate from within the grounds. Whether the rear gate serves as an entrance on open days varies, so follow the signs on the day.

Dates and directions are on the Nakahara Family Residence page.