Kada Family Residence Roji Gate

What Is the Kada Family Residence Roji Gate?

The Kada Family Residence Roji Gate (加田家住宅露地門, Kada-ke Jūtaku Rojimon) is a small tea garden gate in Yabu-no-cho, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, built in the early Showa period and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2007.

The Kada Family Residence Roji Gate stands in front of Gyōgetsutei, the eight-mat hall of the tea house. It is a middle gate dividing the garden in front of the main house from the tea house and its Roji. In form it is a Munamon, roofed in Sugikawabuki cedar bark, with an opening 1.0 meter wide.

Why the Kada Family Residence Roji Gate Was Registered

The Kada Family Residence Roji Gate was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape, under registration number 30-0107.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs praises its delicate design and the skill of its joinery. Bamboo and cedar bark are awkward materials, and on a gate only a meter wide every slender member and joint is on view.

What to Look for at the Kada Family Residence Roji Gate

Start with the roof. Cedar bark is laid in layers and held down by bamboo battens, and a whole round bamboo is set along the ridge. In a compound of tiled roofs, the Kada Family Residence Roji Gate is the one structure with the soft, rustic roof of a thatched hermitage.

Short Udeki arms project from the posts to carry the eave beam, so the light roof seems to float. The doors are a pair of woven bamboo screens, which close the way without blocking the view through.

The Agency describes the whole as an orthodox example of the gate type written 梅見門 and usually called baikenmon, the standard form for the middle gate of a tea garden. The early Showa carpenters followed that form faithfully.

Visiting the Kada Family Residence Roji Gate

The Kada Family Residence Roji Gate stands in the inner garden of a private home and is not open to the public. It cannot be seen from the street. Photographs are available on the Agency for Cultural Affairs database and on Cultural Heritage Online. Directions to the residence are on the page for the Kada Family Residence.