Tanaka Family Residence Back Gate and Barn

The Tanaka Family Residence Back Gate and Barn

The Tanaka Family Residence Back Gate and Barn (田中家住宅勝手門及び納屋, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Kattemon oyobi Naya) is a combined service gate and barn built in the early Taisho period (1912 to 1925) on the Tanaka estate in Sukematsucho, Izumiotsu City, Osaka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 5, 2007. It stands southeast of the main house and southwest of the front gate.

The building is single-storey timber, 67 square metres in area, under a gabled roof of sangawara pantiles. It takes the form of a nagaya gate: a passage 1 bay wide at the east end, with a barn 5 by 2 bays running west from it.

The Working Side of the Estate

If the front gate was the honjin's public face, the Back Gate and Barn served the Tanakas as senior village headmen and farmers. The Osaka Bunkazai Navi listing cites the estate's barn for farm tools as one sign that the family held both roles.

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. Although it dates only from the Taisho years, it keeps the old nagaya-gate habit of combining a gateway and work rooms under one roof, and it shares the job of framing the estate with the grander front gate.

Three Floors in One Barn

Inside, the barn is divided by floor finish. An earth-floored work area the size of about 8 tatami mats sits in the middle; to the east is a narrow room of 4 tatami, and to the west a room of about 8 mats with a wiped plank floor. It is a more careful arrangement than most farm barns.

The passage is only 1 bay wide. Set against the 3-bay opening of the front gate, it makes plain which gate was for guests and which for the household.

Access

The Back Gate and Barn of the Tanaka Family Residence sits inside the estate, southeast of the main house. The residence is a private home and is not open to the public, so the building cannot be visited.