Nishie Family Residence Gate Reception Rooms

About the Nishie Family Residence Gate Reception Rooms

The Nishie Family Residence Gate Reception Rooms (西江家住宅門座敷, Nishie-ke Jūtaku Monzashiki) are an early Meiji wing of formal tatami rooms attached to the north side of the gate of the Nishie family estate in Nariwa-cho Sakamoto, Takahashi City, Okayama Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003. The building stands on a stone wall built against a steep cliff.

It is a single-storey timber building of about 36 square meters with a hip-and-gable pantiled roof and two reception rooms inside. The floor is lifted well above the ground, and the space underneath is used for storage.

The Nishie Family Residence Gate Reception Rooms close off the northern end of the row of buildings that forms the estate's east front.

Why the Gate Reception Rooms Were Registered

They were registered as contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to the care taken with the exterior: Kōran railings along the east and north windows and Namako-kabe tiling around the raised base, which together tidy up the front of the estate.

The east side is the face the house shows to the valley below. By pushing a wing of rooms out beside the gate to the very edge of the stone wall, the builders made that face wider and taller than a gate alone could.

What to Look For

Read the building from the bottom up. First the cliff and its stone wall, then a full storey of namako tiling around the storage space, then the windows of the reception rooms. It is one storey inside, but from below it stands as tall as a two-storey house.

The railings were for leaning on and taking in the view, yet from outside they draw a crisp horizontal line around the building. They turn the corner from the east face to the north, so you can follow them as your eye moves north from the gate.

The storage space was the by-product of making a level floor on a steep site. Wrapping it in namako tiles turned a practical necessity into part of the display.

Visiting the Gate Reception Rooms

There is no indication that the interior of the Nishie Family Residence Gate Reception Rooms is open. You see the wing on your right, to the north of the gate, as you approach. Stand back a little to take in the stone wall, the tiled base and the windows at once.

The estate is the Nishie family's home and visits are by reservation only. Phone photography is allowed, but exhibits may not be photographed and commercial shoots are not permitted; staff point out where the buildings can be photographed after you enter.

Directions and booking details are on the Nishie Family Residence page.