By MASASHI KISANUKI/ Staff Writer
August 17, 2025 at 07:00 JST
The main gate of the former Nakano Prison is jacked and moved to a new location. (Masashi Kisanuki)
The main gate of what used to be Tokyo’s Nakano Prison now stands in a new location without a brick being dropped.
Nakano Ward, which owns the plot occupied by the former prison, completed the work of jacking and moving the historic entrance about 110 meters from its original location in early August.
A ward official noted that it is rare to move a brick building without demolishing it.
The 9-meter-tall gate designed by Keiji Goto (1883-1919), an architect who flourished in the Taisho Era (1912-1926), is expected to open to the public around May 2028.
Also known as Toyotama Prison, the facility housed political and ideological prisoners. Famous inmates held before and during World War II include anarchist Sakae Osugi and proletarian writer Takiji Kobayashi.
The gate was completed in 1915 and is said to be Goto’s only surviving work.
The prison was closed in 1983, but the main gate remained on site.
In 2019, ward authorities decided to keep the gate as it was. But they had a change of heart later after hearing objections from the public about a new plan to build an elementary school there.
Under the initial plan, the gate would have remained in the school grounds.
Some parents supported the preservation plan, but others requested its removal, saying the schoolyard would not have enough space if the gate remained.
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