Tanaka Family Residence Stone Wall

A Retaining Wall above the Kushida River

The Tanaka Family Residence Stone Wall (田中家住宅石垣, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Ishigaki) is a stone retaining wall built in late Meiji (1898 to 1912) on the cliff above the Kushida River at the Tanaka compound in Iitakacho Hase, Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2018.

It stands 8.1 metres high and runs 26 metres, turning a right angle as it builds up the southeast part of the lot from the east end of the front barn to the south end of the Senjitei pavilion. It is counted as one structure.

The Emblem of a House over the River

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the Tanaka Family Residence Stone Wall the structure that best expresses this unusual compound pressed out over the river, and it was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. Matsusaka City notes that the southern plot drops steeply to the river bank, and that the slope is terraced with several tiers of long east-west walls.

The Senjitei pavilion projects partly beyond the top of the wall, and the Tanaka Family Museum's website shows it resting on the wall on two supporting posts. Without this wall there would be no room looking down on the stream.

River Cobbles in Castle Scale

The Tanaka Stone Wall is laid in Tanizumi, with river cobbles set diagonally into one another. Mie Prefecture compares its scale to the ramparts of a castle.

It uses the same river cobbles and diagonal coursing as the bases of the four earthen walls, carried here to a height of 8.1 metres, so the technique that steadies a garden wall ends up holding up the house itself.

Seeing the Stone Wall

Because the Tanaka Family Residence Stone Wall lines the river cliff, it is hard to see from the road. Mie Prefecture photographed it with the pavilion from the south, which suggests the river side gives the fullest view; the bank is steep, so watch your footing.