Tanaka Family Residence Front Earthen Wall

The Front Wall between House and Storehouse

The Tanaka Family Residence Front Earthen Wall (田中家住宅表土塀, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Omote-dobei) is an earthen boundary wall built in 1902 along the east side of the Tanaka main house in Iitakacho Hase, Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2018.

It runs 15 metres, leaving the east face of the main house, turning a right angle at the southeast corner of the lot and ending against the south side of the east storehouse. It is capped with a pantiled roof.

One Front with the House and Storehouse

The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the Tanaka Family Residence Front Earthen Wall works as one with the main house and the east storehouse to form the historic roadside scene, and it was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. By filling the gap between the two buildings, it gives the north side of the road an unbroken front from the main house to the storehouse.

Mie Prefecture adds that the four earthen walls, this one included, divide the grounds and give the large compound its weighty, unified look.

River Cobbles the Size of a Head

The base of the Tanaka Front Earthen Wall is made of river cobbles about the size of a human head, trimmed and laid in the diagonal Tanizumi pattern. Above it rises a wall of clay finished in white plaster, under a tiled roof.

The east storehouse repeats the same stone and plaster on its south side, so wall and storehouse read as one surface. At the corner where the wall turns, you can compare the slanting courses of the stonework on two faces at once.

Seeing the Front Earthen Wall

The Tanaka Family Residence Front Earthen Wall stands on the southeast side of the property along the road, and can be seen from the street. The ground behind it is private, and you can only go inside within the tours offered by the Tanaka Family Museum.