Wada Family Residence Kitchen Gate

The Everyday Gate

The Wada Family Residence Kitchen Gate (和田家住宅勝手口門, Wada-ke Jūtaku Katteguchimon) is a small service gate built in 1930 on the east side of the Wada family estate in Miyamotocho, Kishiwada City, Osaka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 21 August 2002. It sits at the north end of the east wall and leads to the kitchen side of the main house.

It is a one-bay Munamon, a gate with a single roof carried on two posts, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Hongawarabuki tiles. Tiled side walls turn the corner on either side. The opening is 1.8 metres wide, and the structure field lists 7 metres of board fencing attached on the two sides.

Why It Was Registered

The Wada Family Residence Kitchen Gate was registered as a model of its type. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that although it is only a side gate, it has the light, elegant touch of sukiya design.

A katteguchi is the back entrance used for deliveries and daily comings and goings. The contrast with the front of the estate is deliberate: the nagayamon announces the household with a massive hip-and-gable roof, while this gate is kept small and graceful.

What to Look For

Watch the roofline. The gable roof swells upward slightly in a gentle curve called mukuri, softer than a straight pitch. It is a device associated with Sukiya-zukuri architecture, and it is what makes this gate feel light.

The side walls bend away from the gate, their lower parts faced with vertical boards and their tops capped with small tiled roofs. Because the roofs of the gate and the side walls sit at different heights, even this small gate has a lively outline.

Just inside stands the waiting arbor, and the east wall runs south from the gate's side wall. The kitchen gate is the point where the east side of the estate is knotted together.

Visiting the Kitchen Gate

The Wada Family Residence Kitchen Gate is at the north end of the east wall and can be seen from outside the estate. It is still a working entrance to a private home, so do not stand in front of it or block the way.

The curve of the roof is easiest to see from an angle rather than straight on. Directions and visiting etiquette for the estate are on the Wada Family Residence page.