Nagayamon Gate 長屋門

Official explanation

Takayama Chōgorō (1830–1886) tore down most of his ancestral home to build his sericulture school in the late 1800s. His family were wealthy samurai, and Nagayamon Gate is the only building that remains of their estate.

Nagayamon Gate is believed to have been built in the late 1600s, making it one of the oldest surviving gates in Japan. Evidence for the structure has been found on a map of the property made in 1891, when the gate was used to store farming and sericulture equipment. The name Nagayamon is a portmanteau of the words nagaya, referring to a long or row house, and mon, a gate or entranceway. Thus, it is literally a “long house gate.”

Read the full explanation

In 2016 the original structure was meticulously reconstructed. Every piece of timber was labeled, removed, repaired, and put back into its original place.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.