About the Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate
The Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate (矢田貝家住宅庭門, Yatagai-ke Jūtaku Niwamon) is a gate of the mid-Meiji period standing between the Main House and the Nagayamon Gate of the Yatagai Family Residence in Kamihosomi, Hōki Town, Tottori Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2011.
The Garden Gate has an opening 2.2 m wide under a gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. A pair of door jambs set between the posts carries plank doors of zelkova, and the narrow panels beside the doors are zelkova too. Walls clad in weatherboarding and capped with the same tiles run off to either side, one joining the Main House and the other the Nagayamon Gate.
Together, gate and walls divide the forecourt inside the Nagayamon Gate from the main garden beyond. The national database lists it as a structure other than a building, registered as a gate with walls.
Why the Yatagai Garden Gate was registered
The Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits it with creating an attractive space as the divide between main garden and forecourt, and Tottori Prefecture describes it in similar terms.
Its date is read in two ways. The national database puts it in the mid-Meiji period. Fujiki Tatsuya, working from the diary of the fourth head of the family, connects it with the entry for March 11, 1931, which records that a gate was made that day. A garden gate had stood on the same spot before and appears in photographs from the late Meiji and Taishō eras. But with the expansion of the front garden in 1929 the gate was widened and given a new roof, and Fujiki treats the 1931 work as amounting to a new gate. He also notes that the doors differ from those in old photographs and were probably changed when the front garden was enlarged again in 1935.
The sources also differ on what to call the gate. The Agency for Cultural Affairs classes it as a one-bay Udekimon, a gate whose roof rests on projecting arms; Fujiki classes it as a Munamon, a gate standing on two main posts without rear supports. This article follows the national database and gives Fujiki's view alongside.
What to look for in the Yatagai Garden Gate
Notice the choice of timber. Both the doors and the side panels are zelkova, a hard wood with a strong grain, and they fill the face of the gate. Fujiki describes the doors as a pair of plank doors opening in the middle, with short wing walls on either side.
The walls to left and right are clad in the same batten-held weatherboarding as the lower walls of the Storehouse behind the Main House. With gate and walls roofed in the same tiles as the house and the gatehouse, the Garden Gate blends into the front of the estate rather than standing apart from it.
Step through the Nagayamon Gate and the Yatagai Garden Gate appears to the left of the Main House. Beyond it lies the main garden laid out by the fourth head of the family in the early Shōwa period.
Visiting the Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate
The Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate is privately owned and is not regularly open. Because it stands inside the Nagayamon Gate, it cannot be seen in full from National Route 181. We found no notice that visitors can enter the main garden beyond it even on days when the house is open, and no photography policy is published. Directions and visiting conditions for the estate are on the Yatagai Family Residence page.
Q&A
- Where is the Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate?
- It stands between the Main House and the Nagayamon Gate, joined to both by walls. It divides the forecourt inside the Nagayamon Gate from the main garden beyond.
- When was the Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate built?
- The national database gives the mid-Meiji period. A 2026 study of the fourth head's diary concludes that the gate was widened and re-roofed in 1931, amounting to a rebuilding, and that the doors were changed around 1935.
- What kind of gate is the Yatagai Garden Gate?
- A gate 2.2 m wide with a gabled pantiled roof, zelkova plank doors and zelkova side panels. The national database calls it a bracket-armed gate; the 2026 study classes it as a two-post gate without rear supports.
- Why is the Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on July 25, 2011, for its contribution to the historic landscape. It is credited with creating an attractive space as the divide between main garden and forecourt.
- Can I visit the Yatagai Garden Gate?
- It is privately owned and not regularly open, and it stands inside the Nagayamon Gate where it cannot be seen in full from the road. Ask the Hōki Town Board of Education lifelong learning office before visiting.
Basic Information
| Name | Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate |
|---|---|
| Location | 486 Kamihosomi and other lots, Hōki Town, Saihaku District, Tottori Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered July 25, 2011 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Opening 2.2 m wide (with walls) |
| Owner | Private (no owner named in the national database) |
| Public Access | Not regularly open; stands inside the Nagayamon Gate |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008760
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yatagai Family Residence Garden Gate
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/185761
- Tottori Bunkazai Navi (Tottori Prefecture Cultural Properties Division): Yatagai Family Residence
- https://db.pref.tottori.jp/bunkazainavi.nsf/bunkazai_web_view/117213810028FEE749257C5A00296E73
- Fujiki Tatsuya, "The Yatagai Family Residence as Revealed Through Kaso Diagrams and Diaries," Studies of San'in Region Extra Issue 2 (Shimane University, 2026)
- https://ir.lib.shimane-u.ac.jp/55741
Last verified: 2026.10.07
