Dividing the route to the garden
The Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall is a gate with its wall in Hattori, Mabicho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, built in the early Showa period and listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 6 August 2025.
The gate is timber with a tiled roof, 1.3 m wide, with a short flanking wall; the wall itself is timber and tiled, 8.5 m in total length. They were listed as a single entry because they work as one piece of architecture. Both stand south of the main house, where a visitor entering by the front gate is turned to the west.
The gate is Kirizuma-zukuri with Hongawarabuki tiling and is built as a bracket gate, its eaves purlin carried on horizontal arms projecting from the posts. For an opening 1.3 m across, the roof is serious work. In the opening hang sliding doors of single boards, parted to either side.
Defining the western side of the site
The gate and wall were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes how they close the western side of the compound and stage the approach to the garden.
From either side of the gate the wall bends away at a right angle rather than running straight, which leaves a small pocket of space in front of the opening. A visitor pauses there before entering the garden, an effect borrowed from the Roji path of a tea gathering. The whole composition is achieved in 8.5 m of wall.
The work dates from the early Showa period, between 1926 and 1945, the same years in which the compound came to hold two Chashitsu teahouses. Read together, the gate and wall look like part of arranging the route towards the garden and the tea.
Three finishes in a short stretch
The wall is roofed in Sangawara-buki pantiles and plastered in Shikkui. The lower section of the gate is boarded; the rest of the base is mortar finished by Araidashi washing.
Araidashi means washing the surface before the mortar has fully set so that the aggregate stands proud. It was popular from the Taisho period into the early Showa years. In a compound of Meiji buildings, this wall is the one element built with the materials of its own decade.
Timber, lime plaster, mortar: three finishes within a few metres. The arrangement looks less like a design conceit than a set of practical answers. Boarding where hands touch the gate, mortar where rain runs down the wall.
Visiting
The Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall stands inside a private compound and cannot be walked through. The wall closes the western side of the site, so from the lane on that side you can see the run of its roof and the plastered surface above. The gate itself faces inward, and little more than part of its roof shows from outside.
Along the same western edge the corridor of the Nyozean teahouse projects beyond the wall, so following the wall reveals the point where it turns into a building. The grounds cannot be entered and photography is limited to the exterior. Directions are on the Sezaki Family Residence page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall
- [ Kurashiki Bikan District & Korakuen Garden Tours ]
Q&A
- Can the Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall be visited?
- Not closely. Both stand within a private compound; from the lane to the west you can see the roof of the wall and its plastered face.
- How old is the Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall?
- Early Showa, between 1926 and 1945, the same period in which the compound acquired its second teahouse.
- What is a bracket gate at the Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall?
- A gate whose eaves purlin rests on horizontal arms projecting from the posts. Here the opening is 1.3 m wide under a tiled gable roof.
- Why was the Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall registered?
- It was listed on 6 August 2025 for its contribution to the historic landscape, specifically the way it closes the western side of the compound and stages the approach to the garden.
- What is the araidashi finish on the Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall?
- Mortar washed before it has fully set so the aggregate shows at the surface, a finish widely used from the Taisho period into the early Showa years.
Basic Information
| Name | Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall |
|---|---|
| Location | 914-1 Tsujido, Hattori, Mabicho, Kurashiki, Okayama |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2025/08/06 (Reiwa 7) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Middle gate: timber, tile roof, 1.3 m frontage with flanking wall; wall: timber, tile roof, 8.5 m in total length |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private residence; exterior only, from outside the grounds) |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database: Sezaki Family Residence Middle Gate and Wall (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015510
- Sezaki Family Residence Main House and Other Structures (Kurashiki City Board of Education)
- https://www.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/culture/art/1007596/1007597/1011206/1007792/1016887.html
Last verified: 2026.09.17
