Wada Family Residence Gate and Wall

About the Wada Family Residence Gate and Wall

The Wada Family Residence Gate and Wall (和田家住宅門及び塀, Wada-ke Jūtaku Mon oyobi Hei) is the wooden gate and boundary wall enclosing the east and south sides of the Wada property in Hachimancho, Kasamatsu Town, Gifu Prefecture, built in the early Showa period between 1926 and 1945 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017.

The gate stands on the east side, 1.7 meters wide, with a short flanking wall (Sodobei) on either side. From the ends of those, the wall runs along the east and turns to follow the south boundary, 18 meters in total. Both gate and wall are timber-framed with tiled copings.

Why It Was Registered: Two Faces, Two Views

The Wada Family Residence Gate and Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic townscape. In the Agency for Cultural Affairs' words, it shapes the scene well on both sides, inside the lot and out.

A townscape contribution usually means what passers-by see. What makes the Wada gate and wall worth a closer look is that the builders gave the street side and the garden side completely different finishes. One wall does two jobs: it frames the town's street and it frames the family's garden.

What to Look For: Black Plaster Outside, Sukiya Detail Inside

The street side

Facing the road, the wall is finished in black Shikkui plaster above a continuous run of timber boarding (Koshiita). For 18 meters the dark wall face and boarded base run unbroken under a line of roof tiles, drawing a clean edge along the street.

The east gate is modest at 1.7 meters wide. With its flanking walls it sits within the line of the wall rather than standing out from it, as one part of a continuous boundary.

The garden side

Turn to the garden and the character changes. The inner face has windows framed in bamboo, and its lower part is faced with cedar bark. Both are materials of tea gardens and Sukiya-zukuri buildings, and the Agency describes the treatment as sukiya in style.

From the street the Wada Family Residence Gate and Wall reads as a crisp black boundary; from the garden it is a soft enclosure of bamboo and bark. That contrast is the heart of the piece, although the garden side can only be seen from inside the property.

Visiting the Gate and Wall

The black street face of the Wada Family Residence Gate and Wall, and the east gate itself, can be seen freely from the road. Walk from the gate toward the south and you can follow the wall as it turns the corner.

Beyond the gate is a private home, and the grounds cannot be entered. For the bamboo windows and cedar-bark base on the garden side, see the descriptions on the Agency's national database and on Cultural Heritage Online.