Iwase Family Residence Stone-Edged Planting Beds

A Granite-Lined Approach to the Gate

The Iwase Family Residence Stone-Edged Planting Beds (岩瀬家住宅植込枠石組, Iwase-ke Jūtaku Uekomi-waku Ishigumi) are the late Meiji granite borders lining the approach to a salt-producing family's estate in Shinhamacho, Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture; altered in the early Shōwa period, they were registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 March 2019 (registration no. 37-438).

They form the path that runs north from the front gate to the road, 16 metres long. On each side, a band of stacked granite 0.7 metres wide rises from the ground and is topped with a line of cut granite blocks, framing a raised planting bed.

The planting beds sit on a separate lot, 3331-1 Shinhamacho, from the main house at number 3328. They occupy the strip of land that links the estate to the road, making them, in effect, the estate's front door.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Iwase Family Residence Stone-Edged Planting Beds as large and precisely made, creating an imposing entrance befitting a wealthy merchant's home. Its 2018 recommendation lists the stonework along the approach among the elements that give the estate its refinement.

Their significance is that the estate begins to show its status at the kerb, before any gate or wall. Walking the 16-metre stone-lined path, a visitor is led step by step toward the front gate and its flanking walls.

The cut stones along the top both retain the soil of the beds and give the path a clean edge. The work was altered in the early Shōwa period, so not everything seen today is late Meiji, but the layout of the approach has been kept.

What to Look For

Look at the straight granite lines on either side. Because the capping stones are laid so evenly, the whole approach reads as a single crisp outline.

The planting inside the stone frames changes with the seasons, softening the hard edges of the stonework along the way to the gate.

At the far end stands the front gate. Following the four registered elements in turn, planting beds, gate, earthen wall and wooden fence, shows exactly how the formal approach from road to main house was put together.

Seeing the Planting Beds

The planting beds meet the road, but the approach is private land belonging to a family home and cannot be entered. View them from the public road.

Take any photographs from the road and keep the house itself out of frame. Directions to the estate are covered on the Iwase Family Residence page.