Yano Family Residence Northeast Wall

About the Yano Family Residence Northeast Wall

The Yano Family Residence Northeast Wall (箟家住宅北東塀, Yano-ke Jūtaku Hokutōbei) is a wooden, tile-roofed wall built in the late Taisho era (1919 to 1926) in Gogazuka 3-chome, Itami City, Hyogo Prefecture, and was entered on the register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 6, 2024. It links the charcoal barn on the north side of the estate with the barn on the east side, turning a right angle at the corner over a total length of 16 meters.

It is a roofed wall: posts on a stone footing carry a small roof of sangawara pantiles over plastered panels, and the lower part of the outer face is clad in vertical boards. Itami City's page calls it the "east-north wall", but the registered name is Northeast Wall.

Its job is to fill the gap between two buildings so that the perimeter of the estate closes without a break.

Why It Was Registered

The Yano Family Residence Northeast Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape of the nation. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it marks the northeast corner of the estate and forms part of the historic townscape.

Most of the Yano perimeter is made of building walls: the storehouse row on the north, the long barn on the east, the gatehouse on the south. Free-standing walls fill only the gaps, and the northeast wall covers the corner. Without it, the north and east lines of buildings would break off at the corner.

The date is telling. Of the ten registered structures, this is the one built most recently. It uses the same construction as the southwest wall of the late Meiji era, repeated more than a decade later to close the last corner. The perimeter of the estate, in other words, reached its present form only toward the end of the Taisho era.

What to Look For

A wall that turns the corner

The Yano Northeast Wall runs east from the charcoal barn, turns south at the corner of the plot and meets the barn. Within its 16 meters is a single corner, and from outside you can watch the roofline change direction there. One wall joins two sides of the estate.

Roof on brackets

Posts stand every half ken, about 0.9 meters, on long stones, and the eave beams rest on udegi, arms projecting sideways from the posts. The brackets let even a narrow wall carry a real overhang that sheds rain away from the plaster.

Buttresses inside, boards outside

On the inner side, buttress posts are added every full ken, about 1.8 meters. They brace the wall from behind at an angle so that a tile-roofed wall does not topple. Because they are only on the inside, the outer face is flat. At its base, vertical boards protect the plaster from rain splashing up off the ground.

Visiting

The Yano Family Residence Northeast Wall encloses a private home, so the grounds are closed (checked September 26, 2026), and the inner face with its buttress posts cannot be seen.

The outer face stands along the road and can be seen from the street. The Agency's photograph shows the northeast corner, where the turning roofline and the board-clad base are easiest to read. Standing outside the corner, you can see the charcoal barn to the west and the barn to the south at either end of the wall, and the way the perimeter fits together becomes clear.

No sign prohibits photography. Please do not lean on the wall or touch the boards.