Namako-kabe

What namako-kabe is

Namako-kabe is a wall finish in which flat tiles are fixed across the surface and the joints between them are built up in half-round ridges of lime plaster. The Japanese name comes from the resemblance between those ridges and a sea cucumber.

The former rice store at Kawatsuru in Kagawa Prefecture, built in the Taisho period, is described as a two-storey storehouse, gabled, roofed in formal tiles and entered from the eaves side, with this finish on the lower part of its walls and white plaster above.

The Noguchi Residence storehouse in Kochi Prefecture, from the late Edo period, is described as having weatherboarding on its north face, this finish set out in an aligned grid at the base of its gable ends, and four courses of projecting drip tiles that are characteristic of storehouses in that province. An aligned grid means joints that run straight in both directions, as against a staggered layout.

The lower wall is where the finish belongs because that is where rain does the most damage. Tiles shield the earthen wall and the raised plaster seals the joints, so the treatment protects a Dozo-zukuri building as much as it decorates it.

Worked in other materials

The tiles are not fixed by rule. The western wing of the Sato Residence in Iwate Prefecture, built in 1924, is described as harmonising its restrained exterior with western detailing and outer walls executed in this manner using slate.

The pattern also migrates. The new storehouse on the same property is described as finishing the eaves of its pantiled roof in the same quilted manner, transferring a wall treatment to the edge of the roof.

To recognise it, look along the lower wall from an angle. A grid of tiles with raised white lines standing proud of the joints is the finish; whether those lines run straight in both directions or step from course to course distinguishes the two common layouts.