Kaname Family Residence Garden Gate and Wall

The Innermost Threshold

The Kaname Family Residence Garden Gate and Wall (要家住宅庭門及び塀, Kaname-ke Jūtaku Niwamon oyobi Hei) is a late-Edo-period garden gate and earthen wall on the Kaname family estate in Hatakenaka 2-chome, Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017. The gate and wall are registered together as a single item in the category of structures other than buildings.

They run north from the west end of the Middle Gate and divide the main garden from the inner garden. The gate is timber with a tiled roof and an opening 1.2 metres wide; the tile-capped earthen wall extends to either side of it for a total length of 24 metres.

Why It Was Listed

The Kaname Family Residence Garden Gate and Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as shaping the garden scenery at the rear of the estate.

On the Kaname estate, gates divide space step by step. The front gatehouse separates outside from inside, the inner gatehouse separates guests from household, the Middle Gate separates the formal front from the main garden, and this gate, the fourth threshold, opens onto the most private garden of all.

The openings narrow as they go. The formal front gate is 2.7 metres wide and the Middle Gate 1.8 metres; this one is 1.2 metres, wide enough for one person at a time. The width alone says a good deal about the garden behind it.

Design Details

The gate is an udegimon, a simple type in which brackets projecting from the tops of the posts carry the overhang of the roof, and it holds a single swinging door. Above the opening, naturally crooked branches have been set in as ornament in the manner of Sukiya-zukuri, the rustic style of the tea house. It is a pointed contrast with the stiff formality of the gates out front.

The wall changes its roofing halfway. South of the gate it is capped with hongawara, heavy alternating flat and round tiles; to the north it switches to lighter pantiles. The southern stretch lies nearer the Front Shoin and the Middle Gate, so the grander tile may have been reserved for the more formal side, though no source explains the change.

Visiting

The Kaname Family Residence Garden Gate and Wall stands in the garden of a private home and is not open to the public. Deep inside the walled grounds, it cannot be seen from outside. No viewing events were announced as of September 25, 2026.

An exterior photograph appears in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database.