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This is a bamboo guard, seen against many old buildings in Kyoto. The name "inuyarai" means roughly translated, "Something to keep dogs away", and it helps to keep dogs from messing in front of the premises, and also to keep the rain of. However, one of the structure's main purpose is actually to keep people from standing under the eaves of the building, to take shelter when it's raining. This might sound unkind, but the other reason the proprietors would not want people doing this, is so that the person taking shelter cannot eaves-drop (literally) on patrons that might be discussing secret matters.