Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate

About the Front Gate

The Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate (松本家住宅表門, Matsumoto-ke Jūtaku Omotemon) is a wooden Yakuimon gate built around 1907 in Chuo-cho, Mibu Town, Tochigi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 21, 2013. It is 4.9 m wide, roofed in the Kirizuma-zukuri gabled style with Sangawara-buki pantiles, and flanked by Sodobei wing walls.

The gate stands at the west side of the estate, directly in front of the main house. The street it faces was once the Nikko Nishi Kaido highway and is now Rangaku-dori, Mibu's main street. The Shimotsuke Shimbun describes it as the large gate that catches the eye along that street.

Of the six registered structures, the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate is essentially the only one you can take in whole from the public road, which makes it both the face of the estate and the part most visitors actually see.

Why It Was Registered

Its registration number is 09-0210, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a large front gate built of fine zelkova (keyaki) timber, with detailed carving set between the bracket clusters and in the gable ornament, and says that together with its wing walls it creates an imposing entrance.

A yakuimon carries its gabled roof on four posts: two main posts that hold the doors and two rear support posts behind them. The type spread through warrior houses and temples and, in later centuries, was adopted for the front gates of well-to-do merchant and farming households. At 4.9 m the Matsumoto gate is more than twice as wide as the estate's own rear gate, which measures 2.3 m.

What to Look For

Look up at the timberwork above the doors. The tie beam (kabuki) joining the tops of the main posts is unusually deep, and on it sit Mitsudo-gumi bracket sets that carry the roof framing. A mitsudo is a Kumimono cluster of three square bearing blocks set along a bracket arm, a form familiar from shrine and temple buildings. Seeing it on a family gate is part of what gives the Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate its weight.

Between these bracket sets and in the gable, the Agency notes, are panels of fine carving. Standing in front of the gate and looking up, you see the grain of the zelkova and the shadows of the carving together.

The wing walls extend the frontage to either side, so the gate reads as one long, continuous facade along the street. Take the gate and walls in as a single composition and the Agency's word for it, imposing, makes sense.

Visiting

The Matsumoto Family Residence Front Gate faces Rangaku-dori, and its exterior can be seen from the public road at any time. Beyond it lies a private home, so you cannot pass through the gate except during special openings of the estate.

The bracket sets and carving are easiest to read from a few steps back, on the far side of the street. Photograph from the road and keep the gateway clear for the residents. Access and opening information for the whole estate are on the Matsumoto Family Residence page.