Shinshoji Temple Stone Wall

A 58-Meter Stone Wall Above a Watercourse

The Shinshoji Temple Stone Wall (新照寺石塀, Shinshō-ji Ishibei) is a stone boundary wall built in 1895 around the grounds of Shinshoji Temple in Sumiyoshi, Aira City, Kagoshima Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on April 18, 2008, under registration number 46-0071.

The wall runs along the south and west edges of the temple grounds and turns the corner between them, 58 meters in all. A watercourse flows along the edge of the precinct, and the Shinshoji Temple Stone Wall does not stand on level ground: it sits on top of a masonry retaining wall built up from the channel. From the water side you see two tiers of stonework, the retaining wall below and the boundary wall above.

Aira City records that the wall and the main gate were completed together two years after the main hall, paid for by a donor the city names as 水流金太郎.

A Wall That Carries Its Own Date

The main hall is dated by a wooden ridge tag. The stone wall dates itself. An inscribed plaque stone is set into the masonry as one of its blocks, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs says the wall's age was established from that inscription.

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. Wrapping two full sides of the grounds, the Shinshoji Temple Stone Wall makes up most of what you see of the temple from the road and from the watercourse. Of the four listed structures at Shinshoji, it is the one visible over the longest stretch from outside.

A Castle-Style Base and Three Courses of Long Stones

Read the Shinshoji Temple Stone Wall in two parts. The lower part, the retaining wall, is described by the agency as castle-style: stone stacked up from the bank of the channel to hold the temple ground in place, recalling the ishigaki walls of a Japanese castle.

The wall proper stands on top. It is built from long stones roughly one shaku, about 30 centimeters, square in section, laid lengthwise in 3 courses and topped with a kasaishi, a row of capstones. Because the stones lie on their sides, the face of the wall shows 3 long horizontal joints, a very different texture from the retaining masonry below.

The detail to look for is at the outside corners. There the capstones are carved with an upward curve, so their ends lift slightly. It is the same treatment given to the capstones on the posts of the main gate, and the agency singles it out as evidence of how carefully even the boundary wall was made.

Seeing the Shinshoji Temple Stone Wall

Because it runs around the outside of the grounds, the Shinshoji Temple Stone Wall can be seen from the roads on the south and west sides without entering the temple. Looking up from the watercourse side shows the two tiers most clearly. The curved corner capstones are best checked at the southwest corner of the grounds, where the south and west runs meet.

At the north end of the wall stands the side gate, reached by stone steps from the road on the west. If you photograph from the road, keep an eye on passing cars.