Fujimoto Family Residence Front Gate

The Fujimoto Family Residence Front Gate

The Fujimoto Family Residence Front Gate (藤本家住宅表門, Fujimoto-ke Jūtaku Omotemon) is an early Meiji-period gatehouse in Fujiidera City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 18, 2006. It stands a little north of the midpoint of the estate's west side and opens onto the lane that runs south from the Great South Gate of Fujiidera temple (葛井寺).

The gate measures 2 and a half by 1 and a half Ken bays with its ridge running north to south, and carries a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) pantile roof (Sangawara-buki). The registered opening is 2 metres wide. The walls have vertical board wainscoting below and black lime plaster (Shikkui) above; the main doorway is toward the south and a small side door sits at the southern end. The tool storehouse stands directly to the north, and a lavatory added to the main house stands to the south.

Why It Was Registered

The Fujimoto Family Residence Front Gate was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs counts it among the elements of the temple-approach streetscape. Osaka Bunkazai Navi opens its account of the whole estate with this gate, facing the lane south of the temple.

Along a frontage made almost entirely of side walls and fencing, this is the one structure that announces the way in. With a large doorway and a small one set side by side and the rest walled in, it has more the bulk of a small building than of a simple gateway.

What to Look For

The black plaster is the giveaway. The tool storehouse next door is finished in white, as is the back gate on the south side of the estate, so only the Fujimoto Family Residence Front Gate wears a dark upper wall. Among the pale walls of the lane, the colour marks the front entrance at a glance.

The board wainscoting carries on at the same height into the tool storehouse on one side and toward the main house on the other. Standing across the lane, you can follow that line of boards running under the black plaster and out along the neighbouring buildings.

Beyond the doorway, according to Osaka Bunkazai Navi, lies a bamboo-fenced garden belonging to the main house on the right and the entrance forecourt straight ahead. None of that is open to visitors, but the route through the estate starts here.

Visiting the Fujimoto Family Residence Front Gate

The Fujimoto Family Residence Front Gate belongs to a private home and you cannot pass through it. Because it faces the lane, the exterior can be seen from the public street.

Stopping right in front of the doorways can block the residents' way in and out. The whole gate is easier to take in from the opposite side of the lane anyway; please do not look inside. Directions from the station are on the Fujimoto Family Residence page.