A Free Look at a Kaga Samurai’s Longhouse Gate: Highlights of the Takada Family Samurai Residence
The Nagamachi Samurai District is an area where earthen walls and stone-paved lanes still convey the atmosphere of the castle town of the million-koku Kaga domain. In one corner of this district stands a place where you can view the gate of a Kaga samurai’s residence for free: the Takada Family Samurai Residence.
Takada Family Samurai Residence
The Takada Family Samurai Residence is the site of a samurai residence in the Nagamachi Samurai District of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. It is the former residence of the Takada family, samurai of the Kaga domain with a stipend of 550 koku (a unit measuring a samurai’s rice stipend). You can view its restored longhouse gate (nagaya-mon) and the Japanese garden on the grounds for free.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Takada Family Samurai Residence (Kyu Kaga - hanshi Takada - ke Ato) |
| Hours | 9:30 am - 5:00 pm |
| Closed | Open daily |
| Admission | Free |
| Phone | 076-263-3640 (Kanazawa Ashigaru Museum) |
| Access | About a 5 - minute walk from the Korinbo bus stop / about a 1 - minute walk from the Nagamachi Buke Yashiki Ato bus stop |
| Address | 2 - 6-1 Nagamachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920 - 0865 |
A Mark of Rank: The Longhouse Gate, Servants’ Quarters, and Stable
At the entrance of the Takada Family Samurai Residence stands the longhouse gate.
A longhouse gate is a formal samurai-residence gate with rooms built on either side of the entrance. In the Kaga domain, only samurai of middle rank or above were permitted to build this type of gate, so the structure itself signaled the family’s status.
The Takada family’s longhouse gate is said to date from the Bunkyu era (1861-1864), and it has been restored and opened to the public as a Kanazawa City Designated Preserved Building.
You can also view the rooms on either side of the gate. One is the servants’ quarters (chugen-beya), where attendants lived. A sunken hearth is set into the wooden floor; here they ate and slept while keeping watch over who came and went through the gate.
The other is the stable (umaya), built with an earthen floor, where horses were kept.
The longhouse gate served not only as a gate but also as living space for the household’s attendants and horses.
A Strolling Garden Fed by the Onosho Canal
Beyond the longhouse gate lies a Japanese garden.
Centered on a large pond, it is a chisen-kaiyu-shiki (strolling) garden, designed to be enjoyed as you walk around the water. Japanese red pines and other trees are arranged around the pond, and a winding stream flows through it.
The water in this garden is drawn from the Onosho Canal (Onosho-yosui), which flows through Nagamachi. The Onosho Canal is the oldest canal in Kanazawa, and it was even used in the construction of Kanazawa Castle. Drawing water from a castle-town canal into a private garden is a style distinctive to the castle town of Kaga, shared by other Nagamachi sites such as the Nomura Samurai Residence and Senda-ke Garden.
An Easy Stop into the Daily Life of a Kaga Samurai
The Takada Family Samurai Residence is the former residence of the Takada family, samurai of the Kaga domain. You can view its restored longhouse gate, the servants’ quarters and stable, and the strolling garden fed by the canal, all for free.
Nagamachi is dotted with attractions such as the Nomura Samurai Residence, Senda-ke Garden, and local museums. Among them, the Takada Family Samurai Residence is free to enter and easy to drop by. You can walk through the rooms of the people who supported the samurai household and the garden fed by the castle-town canal.
The grounds are compact, so a visit takes only about 10 minutes. There are benches as well, making it an easy place to stop and rest along the way.
When you explore Nagamachi, be sure to stop by the Takada Family Samurai Residence.
