What neribei means
A neribei is a wall built of alternating layers of roof tiles and clay, with a tiled roof on top. Compared with a wall of clay alone, the layers of hard tile make it less liable to collapse and more resistant to fire.
There are two kinds of finish. In one, the whole face is plastered over the tile-and-clay courses, and the wall looks like a smooth white wall from outside. In the other, the tile edges are left exposed on the face, forming horizontal stripes of dark tile and pale clay or plaster joints. The second kind can be recognised at a glance; the first is hard to identify from the surface.
The related Tsuijibei is an earthen wall of rammed clay or clay plastered over a timber frame, and it does not have tiles laid in its courses. In practice, however, the two names are often used interchangeably.
Reading the records and the wall
Records for registered walls give the type in the structure line, as neribei, tiled roof, 37.6 metres long. The wall of Kannonji in Yanaka, Tokyo, is registered under the name tsuijibei, yet its structure line calls it a neribei and the commentary describes a wall of alternating tile and clay. Where name and structure disagree, articles should rely on the structure line.
Regional variants appear as well. The record for the tile-and-clay wall of the Iwamura family describes a local form with thin clay layers and closely set tiles on a base of river stones. The wall of the Goyashiki (former Inoue family house) stands on a finely laid base of local andesite and is finished in white lime plaster, an example of the kind whose tile courses do not show.
On site, look for horizontal stripes of tile edges on the face. Where the wall is plastered, the tile layers may show where plaster has fallen away or at the cut end of the wall.
References
- 観音寺築地塀｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/138831
- 岩村家住宅（旧黒岩家住宅）瓦練塀｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015098
- 郷屋敷（旧井上家住宅）東練塀｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002457
Last verified: 2026.09.26