Former Kitamuro Hospital Garden Gate and Inner Wall

What Is the Former Kitamuro Hospital Garden Gate and Inner Wall?

The Former Kitamuro Hospital Garden Gate and Inner Wall (旧北室醫院庭門及び内塀, Kyū Kitamuro Iin Niwamon oyobi Uchibei) is a wooden gate and board fence of the early Showa era in Handa, Tsurugi Town, Tokushima Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 17, 2020. It runs from the middle of the main house south to the earthen wall, and the gate and fence are registered together as a single entry.

The gate is 1.5 meters wide and the fence 5.4 meters long in total. This is the newest of the 7 Kitamuro structures: after the Meiji main house and the Taisho clinic and walls, it was one of the finishing touches to the inner compound in the Showa years.

Why the Former Kitamuro Hospital Garden Gate and Inner Wall Was Registered

The Former Kitamuro Hospital Garden Gate and Inner Wall became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a gate and fence of imposing design.

At 5.4 meters of fence and a gate 1.5 meters across, this is a small piece of work. Yet the gate carries heavy tiles and shachihoko ridge ornaments, the fence footing is carved with a pattern, and even the way the boards are fixed was given thought. The gate and fence show a household that carried its sense of design into a narrow corner beside the main house.

What to Look For at the Kitamuro Garden Gate and Inner Wall

A single-bay gate crowned with shachihoko

The gate is a Munamon, a roofed gate one bay wide, of the udegi-mon type with bracket arms supporting the eaves. Its gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) is laid in heavy round-and-flat tiles (Hongawarabuki), and a shachihoko, the fish-bodied guardian familiar from castle keeps, sits at each end of the ridge. Seeing these on a small gate of a private house is the first thing that catches the eye, and the narrowness of the gate makes the tiles and ornaments look all the weightier.

A copper-roofed board fence

The fence has a copper-sheet roof with a single line of ganburi-gawara, half-round ridge tiles, along its crest, so fired clay tops a thin metal roof. The wall is made of vertical boards in the yamato-uchi style, nailed alternately on the front and back so that the overlapping boards show from either side. Along the top runs a transom with diagonal crossed bars, called tasuki-zan.

A carved footing

The continuous footing under the fence is finished in mortar and carved with matsukawa-bishi, a traditional pattern of stacked diamonds said to resemble pine bark. Being close to the ground it is easy to miss, so crouch down a little beside the gate to look.

Seeing the Former Kitamuro Hospital Garden Gate and Inner Wall

Once inside the grounds on a guided visit booked with the Former Kitamuro Hospital Medical Museum, you will find the Former Kitamuro Hospital Garden Gate and Inner Wall south of the main house, on the line from the house to the earthen wall. As an outdoor structure it raises no question of interior access.

The outline of the gate roof and its shachihoko is easiest to read from a few steps back. The pine-bark carving at the base and the crossed bars of the transom are details for close viewing. Booking and transport details are on the Former Kitamuro Hospital page.