Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall

About the Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall

The Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall (森松家住宅外塀, Morimatsu-ke Jūtaku Sotobei) is a tile-capped timber wall of the late Edo and late Meiji periods enclosing the north and south sides of a former headman's estate in Mukonoso Higashi, Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2009.

The Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall is in two parts. The north wall links the tool storehouse on the north-west side to the rice storehouse at the north-east corner; the south wall runs east and west from the South Barn. Turning corners as it goes, it measures 58 metres in total. It is timber-built with a pantile coping.

A Wall From Two Eras

According to Amagasaki City, the south wall of the Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall dates from the late Edo period and the north wall from late Meiji. The national database likewise gives two dates, late Edo and late Meiji.

A late-Meiji north wall would have gone up in the same broad period as the early-Meiji tool storehouse and the rice storehouse of around 1905, so the north side of storehouses and wall was completed as a run in the later Meiji years. On the south side, the wall pairs with the late-Edo South Barn.

The Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape. By filling the gaps between storehouses and barns, it closes the perimeter and gives the estate its outline from the street.

Black Plaster With a White Line

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the north wall of the Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall as vertical boarding at the base and black lime plaster above, with a thin line of white plaster running between. The same black-and-white finish is repeated on the side walls of the Middle Gate inside the estate.

Amagasaki City's list calls it a board wall with plaster above, Yakisugi charred cedar boards below, and black plaster on the inner face, so the two sides are finished differently.

At the south-west corner a privy is built into the wall, and it is included in the registration.

Seeing the Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall

The Morimatsu Family Residence Outer Wall encloses a private home and can be seen from the roads on the north and south sides. The grounds behind it are not open.

On the north the wall runs between the three storehouses; on the south it flanks the South Barn. The black-and-white finish is easy to pick out without going close. Photographs should be taken from the public street. The walk from Mukonoso Station is described on the Morimatsu Family Residence page.