Nagase Takao Family Residence Front Gate and Brick Wall

What the Nagase Takao Family Residence Front Gate and Brick Wall Is

The Nagase Takao Family Residence Front Gate and Brick Wall (永瀬孝男家住宅表門及び煉瓦塀) is a gate and boundary wall of the early Taisho era, between 1912 and 1918, in Honmachi 1-chome, Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 March 2019. The gate opens toward the southern end of the east boundary; the wall runs along the east and north sides of the plot. Gate and wall are listed together as a single item.

Its category is not building but other structure. Of the seven listings on this estate, only this one is not a building. It encloses no interior space; its work is to draw the line of the plot.

The wall is brick, 75 metres long and 2.7 metres high, laid in English bond, English bond. Two projecting bands of moulding run along the top, and above them sits a roof of pantiles, Sangawara-buki. The gate is stone. The Agency for Cultural Affairs entry describes it as being in the manner of cut-stone masonry, with the gate piers finished in washed mortar, Araidashi.

Why It Was Listed

The Nagase Takao Family Residence Front Gate and Brick Wall was listed for its contribution to the historic character of the landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs entry says it gives the broad estate a formal bearing. Of the seven listings, this is the one the phrase fits most literally: the wall is the outline of the estate, and it is the first thing a passer-by sees, usually the only thing.

Put 75 metres into terms you can picture. A brick face 2.7 metres high running 75 metres gives roughly 200 square metres of wall. The largest building on the grounds, the Western-style house, has a footprint of 188 square metres. By sheer quantity of built fabric, the boundary is a match for anything inside it.

The tiled roof on top of the wall deserves notice. A brick body carrying a Japanese pantile roof restates, along the boundary, the Japanese and Western pairing that stands inside the grounds. The two bands of moulding are a Western device and the pantiles are not, and they meet along the top of one wall.

What to Look For

This is the only part of the estate you can examine from close up. The other six structures stand behind it; the Nagase Takao Family Residence Front Gate and Brick Wall is out on the street.

Begin with the joints. English bond alternates a course of stretchers with a course of headers, so the pattern changes from one course to the next as you scan up the wall. The former power plant inside the grounds uses Flemish bond, where the alternation happens within each course instead. Learn the pattern here at the boundary and the difference is easy to catch afterwards.

The top of the wall is the second thing. The face rises plain, then two bands of moulding step outward, and the pantile roof sits above them. The mouldings throw rainwater clear of the wall and at the same time draw a horizontal line where the wall ends.

At the gate piers, look at the surface. Washed render is made by rinsing the mortar before it has fully set so the aggregate stands proud; up close you can see the grains. The result imitates cut stone while remaining mortar, the same sleight of hand used on the base of the storehouse inside the grounds.

One inconsistency should be recorded. The structural description in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database gives the gate a frontage of 2.9 metres, while the commentary in the same database says the piers stand 3.6 metres apart. Both figures are given here rather than one being chosen.

Visiting

The Nagase Takao Family Residence Front Gate and Brick Wall is privately owned, but it faces the public road and nothing obstructs a view from outside. You cannot pass through the gate. The owner's introductory site lists no visiting hours and no booking procedure (checked 13 September 2026).

Work along the east side. The wall follows the east and north boundaries, so walking the road keeps the brick face beside you. Stand close to read the bonding; cross to the far side to take in the length. Low morning or evening light brings out the courses and the mouldings far better than the middle of the day.

No notice prohibiting photography was found. Photographing the wall and gate from the road presents no difficulty, but keep the lens away from the inside of the gate and from the windows of the house. This is also a residential street, so do not linger long in one spot.

Directions to the estate and the conditions for seeing it are set out on the Nagase Takao Family Residence page.