Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate

About the Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate

The Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate (旧金岡家住宅門, Kyū-Kanaoka-ke Jūtaku Mon) is a wooden Yakuimon gate built in the Taishō era (1912 to 1925) at 1-5-24 Shinjocho, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1998.

The gate faces the road to the east and stands north of the main house under a tiled roof. It is set back slightly from the street, and beyond it lies the Shinya, the guest wing.

A Gate for Guests

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate as a gate opened for honoured guests. Customers came in through the shop in the main house; invited guests came through this gate to the Shinya.

The Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate was registered as contributing to the historic landscape, and the Agency sees it as a clear sign of the family's prosperity from the drug trade. From the street, a working shop front and a formal gate side by side told passers-by what kind of house this was.

A Softly Swelling Roof That Matches the Shinya

The thing to study on the Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate is the roofline. The Agency notes that the roof has mukuri, a gentle upward swell in the roof surface, and that the design is close to that of the Shinya. Mukuri softens a roof's outline and gives it a quieter, rounder look.

Stand back to see the ridge from the side, then look through the gate towards the roof of the Shinya. The matching curves show that gate and wing were conceived together in the same period.

Setting the gate back from the road also leaves a small forecourt, a pause before a guest steps through.

Visiting the Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate

Because the Former Kanaoka Family Residence Gate stands on the street, you can see it from outside at any time. The registered wall runs off on either side, so take gate and wall in together as one frontage.

Official sources do not say whether visitors may pass through the gate, so ask at the Kanaoka-tei reception. Opening days, admission and directions are on the Former Kanaoka Family Residence page.