What hameita-bari is
Hameita-bari is board cladding in which the boards are laid edge to edge to make a flat surface, rather than overlapping. The boards are called hameita. The flat face is what separates it from shitami-itabari, where each board laps over the next and leaves a step.
Boards may run either way. Vertical boarding is recorded as tate-hameita-bari. At the 1935 managers' house of the former Sumitomo Joint Electric Power company in Niihama, Ehime Prefecture, the outer walls are vertical flush boarding with plastered panels above. The JAANUS dictionary likewise defines hameita as wall boards laid horizontally or vertically.
Fences use it often. The front fence of the former Tango residence in Nakanoto, Ishikawa Prefecture, from the early Showa period, has a pierced plaster upper section above a base of flush boarding. The Nakayama family fence in Matsubara, Osaka Prefecture, from the late Edo period, combines vertical flush boarding with black plaster on one stretch and with earthen wall on another.
What to look for
Sight along the wall at an angle. Steps at the board joints mean shitami-itabari; a flat face means hameita-bari. Vertical boarding with thin battens nailed over the joints is often recorded instead as tateita-bari.
Flush boarding is frequently confined to the lower wall, with plaster or earth above, a combination common on fences, storehouses and houses; the boarded base is the koshiita.
In writing, follow the record's choice among hameita-bari, tateita-bari and shitami-itabari rather than inferring the type from photographs.
References
- JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System): hameita
- https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/jaanus/record/hameita
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Tango Family Residence Front Fence
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011945
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Nakayama Family Residence Fence
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00004011
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Sumitomo Joint Electric Power Managers' House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013464
Last verified: 2026.10.04