Nakayama Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

What Is the Nakayama Family Residence Nagayamon Gate?

The Nakayama Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (中山家住宅長屋門, Nakayama-ke Jūtaku Nagayamon) is the main entrance to the Nakayama estate in Bessho, Matsubara City, Osaka Prefecture, built in the late Edo period and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 2, 2004.

It stands at the southeast corner of the estate, facing south. The building is 4 and a half bays by 2, with a building area of 43 square meters, under a hip-and-gable irimoya-zukuri roof of hongawarabuki tiles. It is a nagayamon, a gatehouse with rooms built in on either side of the passage.

A Gate That Announced the Household

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Nakayama Family Residence Nagayamon Gate as the adornment of the estate's front. In the Edo period a gatehouse like this was the mark of a leading rural family such as a village headman's, so it told passers-by who lived here.

The gate does not stand alone. Its attendants' room on the east runs north to meet the guest lodge, and the rear slope of its roof carries on west to shelter the working area of the two-story storehouse. Gate, attendants' room, guest lodge and storehouse form one connected front, with this gate at its center.

Details Worth Knowing

The passage has a pair of large swinging doors with a smaller side door on the right. Everyday traffic most likely used the side door, with the main doors opened for guests.

The eastern 1 and a half bays hold the attendants' room, where the retinue of a visitor would wait. The western 1 bay is a storeroom that projects half a bay further south, which is why the two sides of the facade do not line up.

The hip-and-gable roof in heavy tiles marks this as one of the more formal buildings on the estate.

Seeing the Nagayamon Gate from the Road

The estate is a private home and the gate cannot be entered, but the Nakayama Family Residence Nagayamon Gate faces south from the southeast corner and can be seen in full from the road. The white wall of the two-story storehouse continues to its left.

Even if the doors are open, please do not look or photograph into the grounds. Directions are on the Nakayama Family Residence page.