Edokiri

What edokiri is

Edokiri is a stone finish in which the edges of each dressed block are cut back to a narrow flat margin while the centre is left rough. The margins read as fine lines between the stones and sharpen the joints when the blocks are laid.

Tunnel portals use it at key points. The Sashiki tunnel in Kumamoto Prefecture, built in 1903, is described as having portals faced in Flemish bond with shield-shaped voussoirs, Coping stone, string course and pilasters all in stone dressed this way. The Tsunagi tunnel in the same prefecture, built in 1901, has coping and pilasters in the same finish on both Tunnel portal.

The former Hokuriku Line Iradani tunnel in Fukui Prefecture, from about 1895, uses dressed stone in this finish at the keystone, coping and string course. The pattern is to reserve it for those points rather than the whole face.

Stone walls use it too. The gate and wall of the Sato Residence in Iwate Prefecture, from the late Taisho period, are described as chamfer-edged granite below, bush-hammered tuff above, and a coping.

Combined with other finishes

That last entry mixes two finishes in one wall: this one below and a bush-hammered surface above, worked over evenly with a pointed hammer. Stone and treatment both change partway up.

The term names a finish, not a stone or a bond. The Sashiki entry lists the bond and the finish separately, and records keep the two apart.

On site, look at the edges of the blocks. A narrow flat border round each stone with a rougher raised centre is the finish, and it concentrates at portal corners, wall corners and copings.