Fujino Family Residence Main Gate

About the Fujino Family Residence Main Gate

The Fujino Family Residence Main Gate (藤野家住宅正門, Fujino-ke Jūtaku Seimon) is a wooden front gate built in the mid-Meiji period (1883 to 1897) in Fujiidera 2-chome, Fujiidera City, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2012.

It stands at the center of the north side of the estate and is an Udekimon, a gate whose roof is carried front and back on wooden arms, or udeki, set into the posts. That lets the eaves reach well beyond the line of the posts. The opening is 2.2 m wide, and the roof is a simple Kirizuma-zukuri gable covered in Sangawara-buki pantiles.

The road in front of the gate is the east-west street that runs past the south gate of Fujiidera Temple, according to Osaka Bunkazai Navi. Of the nine registered structures of the Fujino Family Residence, this is the one you can see best from the street.

What the Fujino Family Residence Main Gate does for the estate

The Fujino Family Residence Main Gate was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a solidly built front gate that gives the estate a dignified face to the street.

The gate is more than posts and a roof. As the agency describes it, there is a Kugurido wicket door on the right as you face it and an attendants' room on the left, and Sodobei wing walls run out to either side and turn corners as they go. An attendants' room was where the servants who came with a visitor waited while their master was received. A gate built with one in mind expects guests of some standing, which fits a family that served as village headmen.

The walls are finished in nezumi shikkui, a grey plaster made by mixing a little soot into lime, with vertical boarding along the base on the street side. The grey reads quieter than white plaster would.

What to look for at the Fujino Main Gate

Stand in front of the Fujino Family Residence Main Gate and you will notice it is not symmetrical. The wicket door is on the right and the attendants' room on the left, so a room's width of wall continues to the left of the opening. Beyond that the wing walls carry on, then change direction to enclose the front of the estate.

Look at the colors too. The gate is grey plaster over boarding. According to the agency, the entrance front of the main house beyond it is finished in black plaster. The gate facing the street is the most restrained, and the finishes grow darker and heavier as you approach the door of the house.

At 2.2 m the opening is far narrower than a modern gate built with cars in mind. It is sized for a Meiji household that came and went on foot.

Visiting the Fujino Family Residence Main Gate

The Fujino Family Residence is a private home, and you cannot go through the main gate. Please do not open the wicket door or stand in front of the gate where you would block the way.

Because the Fujino Family Residence Main Gate faces the north road, its exterior can be seen from the street. To take in the gate and both wing walls at once, view it from the far side of the road, keeping an eye on passing cars and people. Directions to the estate are on the Fujino Family Residence (Fujiidera) page.