Kirikomi-hagi

What kirikomi-hagi is

Kirikomi-hagi is a stone wall whose faces are cut precisely so that the stones meet almost without visible joints. It is the most finely worked of the three degrees, after Nozurazumi and Uchikomi-hagi.

Because each stone is trimmed square on all sides, no packing stones are needed. The aligned faces give a smooth wall surface, which becomes an effect in its own right.

The south wall at the Ishido Residence in Hyogo Prefecture, from the late Edo period, is described as an earthen wall running east and west of the front gate along the south of the plot, with a small gate 0.8 metres wide where it meets the guest room at the east end, standing on skilfully close-fitted masonry, 45 metres long, its wall surface left at the intermediate coat and its roof in Sangawara-buki.

The word for skilful in that entry is the point. Each stone must be cut to its neighbours, which costs both labour and money.

Combined with surface finishes

Stones fitted this way may be finished further. Edokiri cuts a narrow flat margin round each face, and combined with close fitting it sharpens the line of every joint. The lattice fence at Sasayama Shrine in Fukuoka Prefecture, built in 1879, stands on dressed stone finished that way and laid in irregular courses.

How the stones are worked and how the courses run are separate questions. Closely fitted stone may be laid in level courses as Nunozumi or in irregular ones as Ranzumi, which is why records name both.

On site, look at the joints. Almost no gap between stones with a thin straight line between them indicates this method. If the margin of each stone is flat while its centre stays rough, a chamfered finish has been applied on top.