Hisa Kinzoku Kogyo Main Gate

Hisa Kinzoku Kogyo Main Gate: Gateposts Lit by a Company Crest

The Hisa Kinzoku Kogyo Main Gate (久金属工業正門, Hisa Kinzoku Kōgyō Seimon) is the street entrance to a bottle-cap maker's head-office factory in Kitatsumori, Nishinari Ward, Osaka City, built around 1937 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 4, 2021.

It stands near the middle of the site's south frontage. Reinforced-concrete gateposts frame an opening 3.3 meters wide, with low wing walls running off to either side.

Of the nine registered structures on the site, this is the only one classed by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as a structure other than a building.

Why the Main Gate Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs praises the Hisa Kinzoku Kogyo Main Gate for its distinctive design, which sets up the factory's public face. It was registered for contributing to the historic landscape.

The office stands to the west of the gate and the former warehouse to the east, so from the street the gate is the pivot of the whole registered frontage. The company dates the gateposts to about 1937, the same year as the office, which suggests the street front was designed in one campaign.

What to Look For: Oval Caps and the Hisa Crest

The gateposts are finished in Araidashi, a plasterer's technique in which the surface of fresh mortar is washed away to expose the small stones mixed into it, leaving a pebbly texture. Each post is topped by an oval cap that projects like a small roof.

Set into the upper part of each post is a frame for a lamp. The Agency likens it to the lattice of a paper shoji screen, and the company describes a cast-bronze grille. Behind it, milky glass carries the company crest, a stylized form of the character 久 (hisa).

The city's citation describes the gateposts as Art Deco in style.

Seeing the Main Gate

Because the Hisa Kinzoku Kogyo Main Gate stands on the street, the gateposts and wing walls can be seen from the public road at any time. The grounds behind it belong to a working factory and are closed to visitors.

The lamp frames sit high on the posts. Step back across from the gate and look up to make out the grille and crest. Straight inside the gate is a small landscaped mound, with the old air raid shelter tucked behind it.

Keep photography to what can be seen from the road, and stay clear of trucks and staff using the gate.