Shotokukan Gate

About the Shotokukan Gate

The Shotokukan Gate (樟徳館門, Shōtokukan-mon) is a gate built in 1939 beside the Nagase River in Hishiyanishi 2-chome, Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 18, 2000. It is the front gate of Shotokukan, the former private home of Mori Heizo, founder of the Shoin Gakuen schools, and takes the form of a single-bay Yakuimon about 3.15 meters wide.

The Shotokukan Gate stands toward the south end of the east side of the grounds, set back a little from the riverside road. The east wall runs off from its north end and the south wall from its south end, so the gate and the two walls together make up the eastern face of the estate. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records it as a timber yakuimon with a tiled roof and a width of 3.2 meters.

Why It Was Registered

The Shotokukan Gate was registered as a model of form. The Agency's commentary points to the gentle upward swell given to the roof and to door leaves made from single boards, and calls it a gate of fine workmanship.

In a yakuimon, two rear posts stand behind the main pair that carry the doors, and the four together hold up a gabled roof. It is a form long used for the front gates of substantial houses. Built in 1939 for the same owner as the main house, the gate shows in its details how much care went into the part of the estate that faced the street.

A Swelling Roof and Single-Board Doors

The roof of the Shotokukan Gate has a slight mukuri, a convex curve that bows the roof surface gently outward, the reverse of the upswept eaves common on temple roofs. Look up from the front and the rows of tiles running from ridge to eaves trace a soft arc rather than a straight line.

Each door leaf is a single board without joints. A plank wide enough for a gate door has to come from a very large log. For Shotokukan, prized timber was gathered from across Japan and sawn from the log in a mill on the neighboring lot. On a timber merchant's front gate, the grain of the doors is part of the display.

Low wing walls, Sodobei, fold back in a U shape on either side of the Shotokukan Gate, and each has a small wicket door, a Kugurido, so people could come and go with the main doors shut. Because the gate itself stands back from the road, there is a little breathing room in front of it and a clear view of it from the street.

Seeing the Shotokukan Gate

The Shotokukan Gate faces the road along the Nagase River, so its outer face can be seen from the street at any time. The curve of the roof reads more clearly as an outline if you stand slightly to one side rather than square in front.

The inner side of the Shotokukan Gate can only be seen during the public opening the school holds once every four years. We found no statement on whether visitors enter through this gate on those days. At other times, please stop in front and enjoy it from outside.