Wada Family Residence Nagayamon Gate

The Front Gate of the Wada Estate

The Wada Family Residence Nagayamon Gate (和田家住宅長屋門, Wada-ke Jūtaku Nagayamon) is a single-storey gatehouse built in 1930 at the south corner of the Wada family estate in Miyamotocho, Kishiwada City, Osaka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 21 August 2002. A Nagayamon is a gate set into a long, low building, and this one stands directly in front of the main house entrance.

It is a timber structure with a building area of 36 square metres under a heavy Irimoya-zukuri roof of Hongawarabuki tiles. The walls are Shinkabe construction with the posts left visible, sheathed at the base in Shitami-itabari clapboard held by notched battens, and a projecting latticed window, a Degōshi, sits in the middle of the wall. Keyaki (zelkova) is used generously around the gateway.

Why It Was Registered

The Wada Family Residence Nagayamon Gate was registered for its contribution to the historic townscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it forms the formal frontage of a large residence, and for anyone approaching the estate it is the first building they see.

Its layout is a simplified version of the usual pattern. A typical nagayamon has its opening in the middle with rooms on both sides. Here the gateway takes the right half of the front and the left half is a floored attendants' room, where servants who accompanied a visitor would wait.

What to Look For

Stand in front of it and the asymmetry is the first thing you notice: a wide opening on the right, a wall with a latticed window on the left. The gate keeps its sense of weight while fitting into a shallow, single-storey range.

Read the materials from the ground up. Battened clapboard at the base, exposed posts and plaster above, and a tiled hip-and-gable roof on top. The zelkova around the opening, a hard and strongly figured wood, was chosen for the parts people touch.

The opening lines up with the main house entrance, so the gate frames the approach to the front door.

Visiting the Gate

The Wada Family Residence Nagayamon Gate faces the south side of the estate and can be seen from outside the property. Beyond the gate is a private home, so you cannot walk through.

To take in the asymmetric front, step back from the opening and view the whole gate at once. Directions and visiting etiquette for the estate are on the Wada Family Residence page.