Iizuka Family Residence: The Shintaku Back Gate
Around the rear of the Iizuka family's new residence in Bato, Nakagawa, Tochigi Prefecture, a timber gate faces onto the street that runs behind the estate. Built around 1907 and remodeled around 1950, it is nominally a back gate, the kind of entrance a household might treat as an afterthought. This one was not. Despite its position at the rear, it was built at a generous scale and with the formal manners of a proper gate.
The structure is put together with care. Braced main posts are locked together by a kabuki lintel beam running across them; brackets carry the purlin above, and spaced rafters support a gabled roof clad in sangawara pantiles. The composition is simple and legible, but the timber is good and the workmanship fine. The register describes it as essential to ordering the appearance of the estate's rear, the side that would otherwise be left plain.
Why It Was Registered
The back gate was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in September 2003, under the criterion for works that serve as a model of their type. What the listing captures is a particular attitude toward building. A family confident of its standing did not save its good materials only for the front. The rear gate, seen mostly by tradespeople and neighbors, still received selected timber and a dignified form.
Read together with the granite front gate, the back gate rounds out a picture of how the Iizuka thought about their compound as a whole. Front and rear were treated as two faces of the same house, each given its due. That consistency, rather than any single striking feature, is the quality the registration honors.
What to Notice on a Visit
Look at how the gate is framed. The main posts are braced and tied with the horizontal lintel, and the brackets that carry the purlin give the roof its outward reach. For a gate that faces a back lane, the scale is surprising, and that surprise is the point: it tells you the family did not think in terms of a grand front and a neglected back.
Like the front gate, the back gate sits on a public street and can be seen from outside. The residence is owned by Nakagawa Town and operates as the Iizuka-tei lodging under Ohtawara Tourism. Walking the streets around the compound lets you take in both gates and read the estate from its edges.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Tochigi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Rear Gate of the New Iizuka Family Residence
- [ Nikko Toshogu Shrine & Kegon Falls Day Trip ]
Q&A
- Why does a back gate matter enough to be listed?
- Because it was built with unusual care for its role. The national register notes that, though a back gate, it has a large and dignified form and uses good materials, and calls it essential to ordering the rear appearance of the estate.
- What is a "kabuki" lintel?
- In gate construction, the kabuki is a horizontal beam passed through the main posts to tie them together and stiffen the structure. Here it locks the braced main posts of the gate.
- How does it compare with the front gate?
- The front gate is built of granite; the back gate is timber. Both were made around 1907 and remodeled around 1950, and together they show the family treating front and rear with equal seriousness.
- Can I see it from outside?
- Yes. The back gate faces the street at the rear of the property and can be viewed without entering.
Basic Information
| Name | Iizuka Family Residence, Shintaku Back Gate (Iizuka-ke Jutaku Shintaku Ura-mon) |
|---|---|
| Location | 360 Minamimachi, Bato, Nakagawa, Nasu District, Tochigi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered 19 September 2003; gazetted 17 October 2003) |
| Registration criterion | A model of its type in form and design |
| Date of construction | Around 1907 (Meiji 40); remodeled around 1950 (Showa 25) |
| Count and scale | 1 structure; timber, pantile gabled roof, opening about 3.2 m wide, with an attached stone wall about 9.8 m long |
| Owner | Nakagawa Town |
| Access status | Faces the rear street; visible from outside. Part of the Iizuka-tei lodging (managed by Ohtawara Tourism). |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs) — Iizuka Family Residence, Shintaku Back Gate
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003512
- Nakagawa Town — Nationally Designated Cultural Properties: Iizuka Family Residence
- https://www.town.tochigi-nakagawa.lg.jp/22kankou/chizu/kuni/2009-1218-1422-52.html
- Iizuka-tei, Registered Tangible Cultural Property Hotel (official site)
- https://iizukatei.ohtawaragt.co.jp/
Last verified: 2026.07.02