Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall

What Is the Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall?

The Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall (辻本店表門及び塀, Tsuji Honten Omotemon oyobi Hei) is a mid-Meiji-period (1883 to 1897) gate and boundary wall on the old Izumo road at the Tsuji Honten sake brewery in Katsuyama, Maniwa City, Okayama Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2014. It stands directly west of the formal entrance of the rear parlor and served as the guests' way in.

The gate is a single-bay Yakuimon, 1.7 meters wide, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof of Sangawara-buki tiles. The walls running out on either side are tiled timber structures with a total length of 25 meters. In the Agency for Cultural Affairs classification, the Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall counts as a structure other than a building.

Why the Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall Was Registered

The Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall was registered for contributing to the historic landscape; the Agency describes it as a gate and wall that give order to the streetscape. Toward the north end of the brewery frontage, after the run of storehouse walls, the white wall and the gate roof mark a clear break in the street.

It also matters for what lies behind it. The gate lines up with the formal entrance of the rear parlor, and guests passed through it straight to the reception rooms without entering the shop. The gate and wall survive as the starting point of that route, paired with the parlor.

What to Look For: the Gable Ornament and the Boat Planks

The gate carries a pair of hinged board doors, and its gable is hung with a Gegyo, the carved board that drops from the ridge. The ornament is said to derive from fish-shaped carvings meant to ward off fire. Stand in front of the gate and look up to see it.

The walls are plastered in the Shinkabe manner, with exposed posts, and capped with pan tiles. The lower part is finished differently on each face: the street side has overlapping Shitami-itabari clapboards, while the inner side is lined with vertical boat planks, thick timbers that once served on a vessel and resist water well. The record does not say which boat they came from, but in a town where river boats once worked the Asahi River, planks from a boat in a garden wall are hard to ignore.

On the street side the clapboards overlap to shed rain downward, and the contrast of white plaster above and dark boards below runs for 25 meters on either side of the gate.

Visiting the Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall

The Tsuji Honten Front Gate and Wall faces the street, and its outer side can be seen from the old Izumo road at any time. Beyond the gate is the private forecourt of the rear parlor, so please do not go in; for the same reason the boat-plank lining on the inner face cannot be seen from outside.

To fit the gate and both walls into one photograph, step back to the far side of the road. Directions and visiting conditions for the whole site are on the Tsuji Honten Sake Brewery page.