The gate that faces the old highway
Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Front Gate is a gateway of the Taisho era (1912-1926) at 40 Higashi-Shinmachi in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture, entered on the national register of tangible cultural properties on May 7, 1997. It stands on the west side of the main house and is the only one of the eight registered Kajimura buildings that anyone can look at from the public road without going inside.
Its type is a munamon: a single-bay gate carried on two posts, roofed with tiles and given no supporting struts behind. Japanese gate vocabulary is precise about this. A munamon is the plain end of the scale, far from the roofed corridor of a nagayamon or the four-post weight of a yakuimon, and the plainness is the point in a merchant quarter where gates were not supposed to imitate samurai residences.
The gate does not stand alone. Board fences with their own tiled roofs run out to either side, and those roofs sit one step higher than the gate itself, so that the opening reads as something fitted into a wall rather than something added in front of it. The registration covers the fences along with the gate.
One more thing about its position. The Kajimura frontage steps back from the line of the old Izumo highway, leaving a shallow pocket of open ground before the gate. Trees inside the wall show above the tiles, and the national database singles that out: the greenery over the fence is part of what gives this stretch of Joto its particular look.
Registered for what it does to the street
The Joto Mukashi Machiya Front Gate carries register number 33-0013, the last of the eight numbers issued to the Kajimura estate on May 7, 1997, with the public notice following on May 29. Its status is that of a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, the lighter of the two national systems for buildings.
What separates this entry from the other seven is the criterion recorded against it. Seven of the Kajimura buildings were registered either as difficult to reproduce or as models of design. The gate alone was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. In other words, the reason is not what it is but where it is and what it does to the view along the road.
That reading holds up on the ground. The Joto district, the strip of the old highway east of the Tsuyama Castle site, was selected as a Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 2013, and the character being preserved there is made of gates, fences, eaves lines and the gaps between them rather than of individual monuments. The Kajimura gate is one of the pieces that keeps the sequence legible.
What to look at
Stand back on the far side of the road first. From there the whole composition of the Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Front Gate is visible at once: two tiled roof planes at slightly different heights, the darker opening between them, the setback, the trees. Move close and you lose the arrangement.
Then look at the roof of the gate itself. A munamon carries its ridge directly on the two posts, which means the roof has to be small and the joinery has to be exact, since there is nothing else holding it up. The carpentry here is careful rather than showy.
The step in height between the gate roof and the flanking fence roofs repays a second glance. It is a small difference, perhaps the height of a roof tile course, but it establishes which element is the frame and which is the opening.
Photographers usually want late afternoon here. The street runs roughly east and west, so the sun comes down the road and puts the tile courses into relief.
Visiting
Unlike the buildings behind it, the Joto Mukashi Machiya Front Gate can be seen at any hour, since it faces a public street. The compound itself is another matter. Tsuyama City, the owner, closed the site for renovation work in 2025, on June 1, and has announced that it will reopen around November 2026, partly as accommodation. Until then the gate is shut and the interior is off limits.
Enquiries go to 0868-22-5791. Anyone planning a trip around the reopening should check first, because no schedule beyond the announced month has been published.
Before the closure the compound admitted visitors free of charge from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the last entry at 4:30 p.m., and rested on Tuesdays, on the day after a Tuesday public holiday, and from December 29 to January 3. Those terms may or may not carry over.
Reaching the gate takes about 25 minutes on foot from JR Tsuyama Station, walking east. Drivers need roughly 10 minutes from the Tsuyama interchange on the Chugoku Expressway and should use the Joto district visitor car park rather than the road itself, which is narrow. Photographing the gate from the street has never been restricted.
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Q&A
- Can I see the Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Front Gate while the site is closed?
- Yes. The gate faces a public road and is visible at any time. Only the interior of the compound is closed, from 2025 until the announced reopening in 2026.
- What kind of gate is the Joto Mukashi Machiya Front Gate?
- A single-bay munamon, meaning a tiled gate roof carried on two posts with no struts behind, set into board fences whose roofs run one step higher on either side.
- Why was the Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Front Gate registered?
- For contributing to the historic landscape of the country. It is the only one of the eight Kajimura registrations of May 7, 1997 recorded under that criterion; its register number is 33-0013.
- How do I get to the Joto Mukashi Machiya Front Gate?
- About 25 minutes east on foot from JR Tsuyama Station, or roughly 10 minutes by car from the Tsuyama interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. Park at the Joto district visitor car park.
- May I photograph the Joto Mukashi Machiya Front Gate?
- From the public road, yes, with no restriction. Rules for photographing the interior after the reopening have not been announced, so ask on site once the compound is open again.
Basic Information
| Name | Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Front Gate |
|---|---|
| Location | 40 Higashi-Shinmachi, Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on May 7, 1997 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Munamon gate with board fences, tiled roof; no floor area recorded in the national database |
| Owner | Tsuyama City |
| Public Access | Gate visible from the street at all times; compound closed for renovation work (since 2025), reopening planned in 2026 |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence) Front Gate
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000167
- Tsuyama Machijuu Museum, Digital Experience Guide: Old Machiya Townhouse of Joto
- https://tsuyama-machijuu.jp/en/guide/joto-mukashi/
- Okayama Kanko Web: Joto Mukashi Machiya (Former Kajimura Family Residence)
- https://www.okayama-kanko.jp/spot/detail_10509.html
Last verified: 2026.09.09