The plainer wall that closes the compound
Where Wall One performs along the formal approach, Wall Two does the steady work of closing the perimeter. It runs along the southern edge of the property, beginning west of the East Rice Storehouse, and picks up again from the southwest corner to carry on as far as the West Storehouse. In all it stretches about forty meters, a metal-sheet roof set over a timber frame.
Like its companion, Wall Two is built in shinkabe style, posts standing clear of the wall surface at half-ken intervals, roughly every ninety centimeters. The finish, though, is deliberately simpler. There is no openwork lattice here, no display panel for arriving guests. This is the back and side of the estate, and the wall is dressed for it.
A working finish, varied by stretch
The detailing shifts as the wall turns. Along the western half of the southern run, the base is clad in vertical boards and the surface above is given a nakanuri finish, the middle coat of an earthen plaster wall left as the final face rather than topped with a smooth white coat. The remaining stretches are finished simply in vertical boarding from base to top. The result is honest and unfussy, a surface meant to last and to read as a clean line around the grounds rather than to be admired in detail.
That restraint is the point. The wall was registered for the way it orders the edges of an unusually large compound, a property of roughly nine hundred tsubo, close to three thousand square meters. Without a continuous, well-kept boundary, an estate of that size would dissolve into its surroundings. Wall Two draws the line that holds it together.
It dates to the late Meiji period, built as the family completed the enclosures around a main house standing since 1870.
Part of a landscape shaped by water
Wall Two joined the register of Tangible Cultural Properties in 2006, recognized, like the storehouses and the other wall, for contributing to the historical landscape of the country. The registration system, established in 1996, applies a lighter touch than the Important Cultural Property designation, relying on notification and guidance so that ordinary but characterful structures are not lost.
To understand why a plain forty-meter wall belongs on that list, look at what it encloses. The Akagi were senior village headmen beside the Maruyama River, and their compound was engineered against the floods that regularly swept the plain. Basalt stone walls lift the grounds about two meters, a grove of bamboo on the river side once blunted the current, and a boat hung under the eaves of a storehouse in case the water came anyway. The household, it is said, was never flooded. Wall Two is the outer line of that resilient layout, and the estate it bounds is the birthplace of Akagi Masao (1887–1972), the engineer whose lifelong work on flood and erosion control gave the word sabo its place in the international vocabulary of the field.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Hyogo
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Akagi Family Residential Fence 2
- [ Himeji Castle & Kobe Night View Cruise ]
Q&A
- Is the estate open to visitors?
- The Akagi residence is a private home and not generally open. You can see the grounds by reserving a visit to the Akagi Masao Sabo Memorial Exhibition Hall on the property, which opens Fridays and Saturdays. Check the latest schedule before traveling.
- How is Wall Two different from Wall One?
- Wall One runs along the formal entrance side and is finished with openwork lattice and charred-cedar boarding. Wall Two encloses the southern and side edges with a plainer treatment of vertical boards and middle-coat plaster, and it carries a metal-sheet roof rather than tiles.
- What does nakanuri mean?
- In earthen plastering, the wall is built up in coats. Nakanuri is the middle coat. Leaving it as the final visible surface, instead of adding a polished white top coat, gives a more textured, utilitarian look suited to a working boundary.
- Why does its length and route matter?
- At about forty meters, the wall connects the storehouses and corners of a roughly nine-hundred-tsubo compound into a single bounded whole. Its job is to define and tidy the edge of an exceptionally large estate.
Basic Information
| Name | Akagi Family Residence, Wall Two (Akagi-ke Jūtaku Hei Ni) |
|---|---|
| Location | 972 Hikino, Toyooka City, Hyōgo Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered March 2, 2006; gazetted March 23, 2006) |
| Registration No. | 28-0236 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Period | Late Meiji period (1868–1911) |
| Structure | Timber, metal-sheet roof, total length approx. 40 m; shinkabe construction with posts at half-ken intervals; western half of the south run has a boarded base with middle-coat plaster above, remainder boarded throughout |
| Access for visitors | Private residence, not generally open. Grounds viewable via the on-site Akagi Masao Sabo Memorial Exhibition Hall (Fri and Sat, advance reservation; check current details) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Akagi Family Residence Wall Two
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005326
- Tajima Encyclopedia (Tanshin Regional Development Foundation): Akagi Family Residence
- https://tanshin-kikin.jp/tajima/564
- Tajima Tabi Net (Tajima Tourism Association): Akagi Masao, the "god of sabo"
- https://tajima-tabi.net/publictopics/376148
- Sediment Disaster Prevention Public Relations Center: Akagi Masao Sabo Memorial Exhibition Hall
- https://www.sabopc.or.jp/category/砂防の父 赤木正雄展示館/
Last verified: 2026.06.22