What tsuijibei means
A tsuijibei is an earthen wall, built of rammed or layered clay and capped with a small roof of tiles or other material. It is also called simply tsuiji or tsuigaki. From ancient times such walls enclosed temples, palaces and government compounds, and in the early modern period they lined the imperial palace, court nobles' residences, temples and the frontages of large estates.
Early examples were built by ramming: boards set up on both sides as formwork, and clay placed and pounded in thin layers. An investigation of the east wall of Toji in Kyoto by the Kyoto City Archaeological Research Institute found clay compacted in many layers from a few to ten centimetres thick, with remains of a Muromachi-period wall preserved beneath.
Some walls, however, are built with a timber frame of posts plastered with clay or lime on both faces. The record for a wall at Koshoji in Kyoto describes posts set a bay apart on a cut-stone base, tied with a beam, and plastered on the outside. A wall called tsuijibei is therefore not necessarily rammed earth inside.
Reading the records and the wall
Records for registered walls give the construction type and length in the structure line, such as earthen wall, tiled, 78 metres long, and the commentary adds the finish. The wall of the Fujioka family house is recorded with a clay finish outside, lime plaster inside and mortar on one stretch.
The name is often exchanged with that of the Neribei, a wall of alternating tiles and clay. The wall of Kannonji in Yanaka, for example, is registered under the name tsuijibei, yet its structure line records it as a neribei. Articles should check both the name and the structure line and state which construction is meant.
Some temple walls carry white horizontal lines along the face, called jōgi-suji; the Koshoji wall is recorded with five. The number of lines is said to indicate the rank of the temple. On site, compare the roof, the wall finish and the stone base with the record.
References
- 東寺東築地塀の調査（リーフレット京都）｜京都市埋蔵文化財研究所
- https://www.kyoto-arc.or.jp/news/leaflet/305.pdf
- 藤岡家住宅築地塀｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005346
- 興正寺東面南側築地塀｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/617240
- 「築地」について｜鎌倉市
- https://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp/rekibun/documents/01_oshiki.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.26