About the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate
The Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate (美甘家住宅表門, Mikamo-ke Jūtaku Omotemon) is an early-Meiji estate gate in Tokorogo, Daisen, Tottori Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2009. It stands a short way back from the street on the east side of the plot and leads into the forecourt in front of the main house.
Some farmhouses in Tokorogo have a gatehouse with rooms built into it (a Nagayamon). The Mikamo Front Gate is instead a freestanding gate with no rooms, braced fore and aft by secondary posts and finished with care up to the ridge.
How the Mikamo Front Gate Is Built
The opening is 3.0 m wide. Two square main posts stand with bracing posts (Hikaebashira) in front of and behind them, tied by horizontal tie beams (Nuki) and boarded with vertical planks. Main posts braced on both faces in this way are close to the layout known as a Shikyakumon, or four-legged gate.
The roof is gabled and covered in interlocking pantiles. Along the ridge, three courses of flat ridge tiles are stacked and topped with local Kimachi stone, and the ends of the ridge carry ornamental tiles shaped somewhat like a Gegyo gable pendant.
The national database dates the gate to the early Meiji era and registered it as contributing to the historic landscape: the face of the estate as seen from the road.
The Left-Handed Tiles of the Front Gate
The detail to look for on the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate is the direction of the tiles. Interlocking pantiles come in two mirror-image versions depending on which side the raised overlap sits, and this gate uses the left-handed type. Daisen Town's walking map notes that it is the only roof in the village laid with left-handed pantiles.
Stand square to the roof slope and follow which way the stepped overlaps run. Then look up past the ridge tiles and the stone to the ornamental end tiles.
The stone-capped ridge is shared with the main house and the New Storehouse, but the Front Gate is the one place where you can see it close up from the street.
Viewing the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate
The Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate belongs to a private home, and visitors may not pass through it. It sits slightly back from the street on the east side, so you can take in the gate and its roof from the road. Do not linger in the gateway, since residents and vehicles use it.
We found no official guidance on photography (checked October 2026). Avoid capturing the house or the household beyond the gate.
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Q&A
- What kind of gate is the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate?
- A freestanding gate 3.0 m wide, with bracing posts in front of and behind the main posts, tie beams and vertical boarding, under a gabled pantile roof.
- When was the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate built?
- The national database dates it to the early Meiji era. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2009.
- What is unusual about the tiles on the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate?
- It is roofed with left-handed pantiles. Daisen Town says it is the only roof in Tokorogo laid this way.
- What sits on the ridge of the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate?
- Three courses of flat ridge tiles topped with local Kimachi stone, with ornamental tiles resembling gable pendants at each end.
- Can I walk through the Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate?
- No. It is the gate of a private home, so it can only be viewed from the street on the east side.
Basic Information
| Name | Mikamo Family Residence Front Gate (美甘家住宅表門) |
|---|---|
| Location | 170 Maeda, Tokorogo, Daisen-cho, Saihaku-gun, Tottori Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | 2009 (registered) |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Opening 3.0 m wide (timber, tiled roof) |
| Owner | Not disclosed |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (exterior visible from the street) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: 美甘家住宅表門
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007669
- Cultural Heritage Online: 美甘家住宅表門
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/144931
- Daisen Town: Mikamo Family Residence (美甘家住宅)
- https://www.daisen.jp/10/33/1/s148/q166/
- Daisen Town: Tokorogo walking map (PDF, Japanese)
- https://www.daisen.jp/user/filer_public/ba/c4/bac418d0-931e-4930-b696-b2f5b865b94f/denken-tiku-panfu.pdf
Last verified: 2026.10.01
