The Stone Gate

by The Raw World Atlas

A heavy gate made of grey stone, with the roof curving upwards at the corners in the Japanese style, featuring carved volutes and a family coat of arms on the lintel. The surface is weathered and mottled, with bare vines hanging from the eaves. Passing through the open gate, the view changes completely: a pine tree, growing in broad, flat tiers; a round shrub; a few red maple leaves; and, behind them, the dark latticework of an old timber-framed house. On the left, a simple wooden door sits in the stone wall.

This is Otaru in Hokkaido, Japan. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the town grew rich through herring fishing, and the merchants who made their fortunes here built in stone to protect their goods and homes from fire. Many of these buildings still stand, and this gate is one of them.

The image functions as a frame within a frame: rough stone on the outside, a well-tended garden on the inside. In portrait format, it suits corridors, entrance areas and narrow wall spaces, where it almost looks like a passageway through the wall. The muted palette of stone grey, weathered wood and fresh green harmonises with tranquil spaces, natural materials and Japanese-inspired design. The grain of the stone and the fine needles of the pine are shown to their best advantage on matt fine art paper.