Uchikomi-hagi

What uchikomi-hagi is

Uchikomi-hagi is a stone wall of roughly split stones whose contact faces have been hammered back to close the joints. It stands between Nozurazumi, which leaves the stone as found, and Kirikomi-hagi, which cuts the faces precisely.

Only the parts that meet are worked. The rest of each stone keeps its natural surface, so the wall reads as rough while its joints are tight.

The stone wall and fence at Meisekiji in Ehime Prefecture, built in 1930 and 1944, are described as forming the uppermost terrace where the main hall stands, the wall 3.8 metres high with steps, laid in this manner in irregular courses, with Sangi-zumi at the outer corner given a curved batter.

That entry names three things at once: how the stones were worked, how the courses run, and how the corner was built. Stone walls are described along all three axes, and a record should be read with them kept apart.

A note on the written form

The records of the Agency for Cultural Affairs use a different character for the second element of the Japanese name, one meaning to join or splice. Several spellings circulate, all denoting the same method.

Follow the form used by whichever record is being quoted, and when searching, try both forms. Looking for only one of them misses examples.

On site, judge by the joints. Natural surfaces surviving on the faces of the stones while the meeting edges are flattened and the joints run thin indicate this method. Small stones packed into the joints indicate unworked walling; joints almost invisible indicate finely cut work.