Yokouchi Family Residence Roji Gate and Wall

A small gate between two gardens

The Yokouchi Family Residence Roji Gate and Wall (横内家住宅露地門及び塀, rojimon oyobi hei) in Shijocho, Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture, is a timber garden gate with short flanking walls built in the early Shōwa period (1926-1945); it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2015.

It stands between the west post of the main house's Shikidai entrance and the southwest corner post of the front gatehouse, dividing the forecourt inside the front gate from the main garden beyond. The gate opening is 1.1 metres wide and the walls run 2.3 metres in all, so this is a small structure.

A bracketed gate and a stepped roofline

The gate is an Udekimon, its little roof carried on brackets that project from the posts, and its doors are Sankarado, framed panel doors that swing inward. The roof is a gabled form in pantiles.

On the south side the wall shares one continuous roof with the gate; on the north side the wall roof drops a step, an Ochimune. Changing the height either side of the gate keeps even this short run of wall from looking flat.

The walls are finished in mouse-grey lime plaster, and across the top runs an open band crossed by horizontal bars. The wall closes off the garden, yet that open strip lets a little of what lies beyond show through.

An entrance to the garden

A roji is the garden path that leads to a tea room, and a roji gate marks the way into it. The Yokouchi roji gate sits at the threshold between the forecourt, where guests arrive at the shikidai, and the main garden, a point at which a visitor would pause before going on.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits the Yokouchi Family Residence Roji Gate and Wall with adding character to the garden together with the cobbled paving and planting. The early Shōwa years were also when the main house was refitted in sukiya style under a literary head of the family, and this gate fits that same moment.

It was registered on August 4, 2015 (number 27-0634), under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

Visiting

The Yokouchi roji gate stands inside the front gate, between the gatehouse and the main house, within a private home. We found no information on public access as of October 2026.

It is probably not visible from outside the front gate, so do not expect to see it from the public road. The group page for the Yokouchi Family Residence describes where it fits in the layout of the compound.