The present study focuses on “Nagayamon” gates, one format of constituent buildings in a rural estate, with the aim of clarifying their origins and inheritance processes to date.
Nagayamon gates remain in large numbers in rural parts of the Kanto region, but the gates, as items of cultural property, have been regarded as appendages to main houses, and therefore, no statistical data and few records are available on them.
Our study shows that Nagayamon gates in rural areas first emerged in the first half of the 18th century, with village heads and other well-off farmers building them under the reign of feudal lords. The abundance of Nagayamon gates in central Ibaraki Prefecture can be attributed to factors of the ruling structure, whereby frequent relocations of lords toward the end of the feudal age split up their domains and increased the number of “aikyu” villages that were divided between different lords.
Our case study shows about 40 percent of Nagayamon gates were built during the feudal age, with many of them located in aikyu and other villages where more than one ruler reigned, as well as in smaller feudal domains. Historical documents and oral tradition indicate that rulers used Nagayamon as a means of domain administration, such as by issuing Nagayamon construction permits in exchange for cash or labor, and by allowing farmers with reserves to build Nagayamon at times of famine in exchange for their release of grain from their reserves.
More than half of all Nagayamon gates were built in the Meiji Era or later. They adopted a symbolic quality that had originated in the Edo Period, and they were popular among well-off and non-collateral families, or families of about the same social standing as those that had built Nagayamon during the Edo Period. The fact that they were introduced as symbolic objects is demonstrated by the less practical choice of their distances from the main house, orientations, building materials and other attributes than in a reference village on an island; their layouts that take account of the street-facing side of the estate; and the different wall finishes used on the front and back faces.
Use of Nagayamon has been centered on accommodating retired members of the family well into the postwar period, but it has also complemented community demands by drawing on their spatial separation from the main houses, such as by allowing third parties to occupy them or providing venues for public activity. But disuse rose sharply and has hovered around 40 percent since around 1980, with their owners leaving the farming business, their children moving out, and new houses being built to accommodate retired family members. Conversion of functions to use Nagayamon gates as galleries, shops or other establishments by drawing on their characteristic locations has so far been rare.
While new Nagayamon gates have seldom been built in recent years, existing ones have been renewed or maintained by total replacement, partial rebuilding or repairs. Interviews with their owners indicated they are highly motivated to pass on the items of heritage. Despite changes in roof materials and extensions, Nagayamon gates still observe a certain format, so they are recognized as a constituent element of community landscape, and their continued inheritance is desired by third parties as well.
