In the Iwakuni jōkamachi, the “town below the castle", there are two buildings that survived until today as they were at the beginning of the Edo Period, more than 300 years ago.

Photographed here is the gate of one of them, once belonging to a high-ranking samurai family, Kagawa. This type of gate, called nagaya-mon, was in fact a row house (nagaya) with a gate in the middle, being used at the same time as guard room and lodging for low-ranking samurai.

Kagawa Family House, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Shukubamachi, Japanese medieval post station