A Terrace Cut Into a Hillside
Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence (明石寺石垣及び塀) is the masonry retaining wall and parapet that holds up the uppermost terrace of Meisekiji, a Tendai Jimon temple in Uwacho, Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture, built between 1930 and 1944 and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 October 2007.
Meisekiji sits on a slope of cedar and cypress about three kilometres from JR Unomachi Station. Nothing at the temple stands on level ground that nature provided. The main hall, the Daishi Hall and the bell tower all share one artificial platform, and that platform is the wall. Walk the last stretch of the approach and the stonework rises on your right, close enough to touch, holding back several metres of earth that would otherwise have slid downhill long ago.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the stonework at a total length of 73 metres and a height of 3.8 metres, with the parapet above it running 63 metres. Seiyo City gives the wall a length of 62.8 metres and notes that the east face reaches 7.8 metres at its tallest point. The two records do not agree, and the difference is worth knowing before you try to match a figure to what you are looking at.
Chert, Cut Corners, and Two Named Masons
The stone is chert. It comes from the Chichibu Belt, the band of accreted marine rock that runs through this part of Shikoku, and Seiyo City's description of Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence points out that the builders used blocks of roughly 1 metre across. Chert is hard, brittle and difficult to dress. Blocks of it fracture along awkward planes rather than splitting clean, which is why the wall reads as a field of irregular polygons rather than a grid.
The technique is uchikomi-hagi, in which the faces of the stones are trimmed just enough to close the joints while the overall coursing stays random. Look at the outside corners and the method changes. There the masons switched to sangi-zumi, stacking long rectangular blocks with their ends alternating left and right on each course, the way you might interlock the corner of a log cabin. Sangi-zumi corners are what allow a Japanese stone wall to carry a curve, and this one does curve, sweeping back as it rises.
Two masons are named in the city's record: Abe Jin'ichi and Kawamoto Masanari, both from Tada, with Miyamoto Tomojiro listed as the layman who organised the work. Construction began in 1928 and finished in 1930. Naming the craftsmen is unusual for a structure of this kind, and it is part of why the registration criterion applied here was that the work would be difficult to reproduce.
Wall building of this scale was not decoration. A temple that had been rebuilding its halls one by one since the 1880s needed the ground under them settled first, and Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence is the last and largest piece of that programme.
The Parapet of 1944
The low barrier along the top of the wall was finished fourteen years later, in 1944, according to a stone inscription beside the Jizo Hall. It is reinforced concrete, not stone, and it was designed to look like a balustrade: giboshi, the onion-shaped finials that cap the posts of a traditional Kōran, are spaced evenly along it, and the panels between them are pierced in the outline of a Katōmado, the ogee-headed window of Buddhist architecture.
The surface was finished by arai-dashi, a plasterer's method in which aggregate is mixed into the render and the surface washed back while still green so that the stone chips show through. The effect from a few paces away is of carved stone. Close up, the concrete gives itself away.
This is a detail worth pausing over. In 1944 Japan was in the last year of the Pacific War and reinforced concrete was scarce. A temple in rural Ehime nevertheless put up a decorative parapet in the material, using a mason's vocabulary borrowed from wooden architecture and executed by a plasterer. One caution for readers checking the primary record: the Agency for Cultural Affairs structure field describes the parapet as stone-built, while its own explanatory note and Seiyo City both describe reinforced concrete. The concrete reading is supported by two of the three descriptions.
Seeing It
Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence stands outdoors on the temple precinct and can be seen at any hour without an admission fee. There is no gate to pass and no ticket to buy. The best view of the full height is from the lower terrace looking up and to the east, where the wall is tallest; the parapet reads better from the upper terrace, where you can see the openwork panels against the sky.
Photography of the precinct buildings and stonework is not restricted. The one exception at Meisekiji concerns the principal image of Kannon, which is photographed only under the temple's own rules during its special opening.
From JR Unomachi Station on the Yosan Line the temple is about three kilometres, roughly eight minutes by car or taxi and about forty minutes on foot. Drivers take the Seiyo Uwa interchange on the Matsuyama Expressway and continue for about ten minutes. Parking holds around 200 vehicles and is free for cars; large and medium buses pay 1,000 yen and microbuses 500 yen. The temple office can be reached on 0894-62-0032.
Meisekiji is the forty-third stop on the Shikoku pilgrimage, so the precinct is busiest in spring and autumn when walking pilgrims are on the road. Early morning is quiet, and low sun raking across the chert brings out the joints better than midday light does. The precinct as a whole is also part of the nationally designated Historic Site covering the Iyo pilgrimage routes.
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Q&A
- Where is Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence and how do I reach it?
- It is at Meisekiji at 205 Akashi, Uwacho, Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture. From JR Unomachi Station the temple is about three kilometres, roughly eight minutes by car and about forty minutes on foot. By car it is about ten minutes from the Seiyo Uwa interchange on the Matsuyama Expressway.
- Is there an admission fee to see Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence?
- No. The precinct is open and free, and the wall is an outdoor structure you pass on the way up to the main hall. Parking is free for cars, with charges of 1,000 yen for large and medium buses and 500 yen for microbuses.
- What is Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence built of?
- The retaining wall is chert from the Chichibu Belt, laid in the uchikomi-hagi method with random coursing and sangi-zumi at the outside corners. The parapet above it is reinforced concrete finished by the arai-dashi plaster technique to resemble stone.
- When was Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence built and registered?
- The stone wall was begun in 1928 and completed in 1930; the parapet was finished in 1944. Both were registered together as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 October 2007.
- May I photograph Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence?
- Yes. Photography of the precinct structures is not restricted. Restrictions at Meisekiji apply to the principal image of Kannon during its special opening rather than to the buildings or the stonework.
Basic Information
| Name | Meisekiji Temple Stone Wall and Fence |
|---|---|
| Location | 205 Akashi, Uwacho, Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture, and adjoining lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 2 October 2007 |
| Quantity | 1 site |
| Dimensions | Stone wall: total length 73 m, height 3.8 m. Parapet: total length 63 m |
| Owner | Not recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database |
| Public Access | Outdoor structure on the temple precinct; visible at any time, no admission fee |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Meisekiji Ishigaki oyobi Hei
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006327
- Seiyo City: Nationally Registered Meisekiji Ishigaki oyobi Hei
- https://www.city.seiyo.ehime.jp/miryoku/seiyoshibunkazai/bunkazai/kuni/kuni_yukei_kenzobutsu/4210.html
- Seiyo City: Meisekiji Keidai and Daihoji Michi Recommended as National Historic Sites
- https://www.city.seiyo.ehime.jp/miryoku/seiyoshibunkazai/bunkazai/kuni/kshiseki/6592.html
- Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage Association: Temple 43, Genkozan Enjuin Meisekiji
- https://88shikokuhenro.jp/43meisekiji/
Last verified: 2026.09.05