Ochanomizu University Front Gate

What Is the Ochanomizu University Front Gate?

The Ochanomizu University Front Gate (お茶の水女子大学表門) is a reinforced concrete gate and wall built in 1936 at the center of the northern boundary of the Ochanomizu University campus in Otsuka, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2008.

It faces Kasuga-dori, the avenue running along the north side of the campus, and the university's own guides call it the main gate (seimon). The guard station where outside visitors check in stands just inside, on the right. Straight ahead lies the Main Building, so gate and building share a single axis.

The Ochanomizu University Front Gate was completed in 1936, the year the move to Otsuka was finished with every new building in place, the affiliated schools included. It was altered in 1955.

Structure and Registration of the Ochanomizu University Front Gate

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Ochanomizu University Front Gate consists of a gate and walls counted together as a single structure. The gate is made up of a pair of main posts, smaller posts on either side and iron doors, with a frontage of 7.2 meters and pedestrian side gates to the left and right. The main posts are 4.1 meters high. The flanking walls, also reinforced concrete, are 3.2 meters high and 13 meters long in total.

The core is concrete, but the surfaces are faced with Mannari granite, which gives the gate the weight of masonry. The same granite forms the dado of the Main Building and the Auditorium, so the gate is tied to the school buildings by material.

It was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape. The gate has marked the entrance to the university on Kasuga-dori since the early Showa years and is still used as the main gate today.

What to Look For at the Ochanomizu University Front Gate

The design of the Ochanomizu University Front Gate is built from straight lines and rectangles, with no curved ornament. Posts, side posts and wall faces all follow the same geometric logic, which gives the gate its early Showa modernity.

The Agency's description notes that the original light fittings and the grilles in the wall openings survive in good condition. Both are worth a closer look, and both follow the same geometric vocabulary as the gate itself.

Stand between the main posts and the front of the Main Building lines up directly ahead. The building finished in 1932 and the gate added 4 years later sit on one axis and together form the face of the campus.

Visiting the Ochanomizu University Front Gate

The exterior of the Ochanomizu University Front Gate can be seen at any time from the Kasuga-dori sidewalk, with no entry procedure required. The Toei bus stop Otsuka 2-chome is about 1 minute away. When viewing from the sidewalk, take care not to block students coming and going or other pedestrians.

To pass through the gate onto the campus, you must state your purpose at the guard station just inside on the right and complete the entry procedure with identification. Directions and campus entry conditions are on the Ochanomizu University page.