Hagiwara Family Residence Rear Gate

About the Hagiwara Family Residence Rear Gate

The Hagiwara Family Residence Rear Gate (萩原家住宅裏門, Hagiwara-ke Jūtaku Uramon) is an early Showa gate, built between 1926 and 1945, in Onji Nakamachi, Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, and was entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on September 10, 2019. It is a tiled timber gate 1.4 meters wide.

It stands at the back of the compound, between the rice storehouse and the barn, facing west. With the front gate and high wall, it is one of 2 Hagiwara structures that the Agency for Cultural Affairs classes as ancillary works rather than buildings, and it served as the back entrance to the house.

A Yakuimon on a Stone Wall

The Hagiwara rear gate sits on top of a flight of steps set into the stone retaining wall that forms the west edge of the site. Anyone entering from outside climbs the steps and then passes under the roof.

It is a Yakuimon-type gate with a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof in Sangawara-buki pantiles. The doors hang on the line of the rear Hikaebashira posts, and a short wing wall extends on the north side of the front. The side walls are finished in Shikkui plaster with vertical boards below.

Steps, gate and wing wall read as one composition, meant to be seen from below. At 1.4 meters, the opening is slightly wider than the 1.2-meter front gate.

Between the Rice Storehouse and the Barn

North of the Hagiwara Family Residence Rear Gate stands the rice storehouse, and to the south the barn. The storehouse dates from 1909, the barn and gate from the early Showa era, and all three line the west side of the plot.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the gate, standing in line with the rice storehouse and the barn, shapes the rear of the compound. The road front belongs to the main house and front gate; the west side is held by storehouses, barn and this gate.

Why the Rear Gate Was Registered

The Hagiwara Family Residence Rear Gate was registered as contributing to the historic landscape of the country. Yao City describes the storehouses and barn behind the main house, with the rear gate between them, as a traditional layout for merchant houses in the central Kawachi area.

It is a small gate, but set where steps climb the height of the stone wall, it defines the outline of the compound's back.

Visiting the Hagiwara Family Residence Rear Gate

The Hagiwara Family Residence Rear Gate is at the far west of the site, and Chakichian's information says nothing about using or viewing it (checked September 2026). If you visit the grounds during Chakichian's opening hours, follow the staff's guidance.

No photography rules are published, so ask before taking pictures on the property. Directions are on the Hagiwara Family Residence (Yao) page.