Tanaka Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

The Tanaka Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

The Tanaka Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (田中家住宅長屋門, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Nagayamon) is a gatehouse of the Bunsei era (1818 to 1830) in Minamishinmachi, Matsubara City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 28, 2009. It was relocated in 2007.

It faces the street to the east: a single-storey timber building under a hip-and-gable roof of hongawara tiles, 11 metres by 4.0 metres, with a building area of 44 square metres and a gateway 4.0 metres wide at its center.

A Weighty Gatehouse

The Tanaka Family Residence Nagayamon Gate was registered as a model of its type, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles it out as an example of a nagaya gate with a heavy, imposing exterior. Matsubara City records that it was rebuilt in the Bunsei era, and with the main house it still shows the frontage of a headman-class homestead.

A room sits on each side of the gateway, the northern one finished with a floor and ceiling, a layout typical of nagaya gates, where such rooms probably housed servants or stores.

Lattice and Yoriki Windows

The walls are plastered with weatherboarding below, and the front has a projecting lattice window and yoriki windows whose timber grids cast shadows across the white plaster. At 4.0 metres deep, the gate has real bulk, and its tiled hip-and-gable roof gives it a strong presence on the street.

The gateway is also 4.0 metres wide, which makes the scale of the entrance clear.

Seeing the Gate

The gate faces the street to the east, so its exterior can be seen from the public road. Matsubara City states that the house is still lived in and that the grounds and buildings cannot be visited.