Hatta Family Residence Wall

The Wall Between House and Storehouse

The Hatta Family Residence Wall (八田家住宅塀, Hatta-ke Jūtaku Hei) is a roofed street wall on a merchant compound in Matsushiro, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture; built around 1897, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 December 2005. It runs along the road on the west side of the Hatta property, linking the Main House to the Long Storehouse.

It is 5 bays long, 9.0 metres in all, a timber structure capped with a gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pan tiles. The lower part is clad to waist height in 9 courses of weatherboard held by notched battens, and the upper part is finished in white plaster.

The base is set on a stone known as shibaishi, with a drain opening built of stone. In the registration the wall is classed not as a building but as an "other structure".

Why It Matters

The Hatta Family Residence Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape; the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that its well-ordered design tidies the whole front of the compound.

Think about what it fills. On one side is the house where the family lived, on the other the storehouse where goods were kept. A wall under the same tiled roofline carries straight across that seam, so from the street the compound reads as one continuous elevation rather than a collection of different buildings. That continuity is why a 9.0-metre wall earned registration.

The cladding is a variety of Shitami-itabari: horizontal boards lapped over one another and pinned by vertical battens cut into steps, a detail known as sasarako. Boards protect the lower wall from splashing rain, and plaster shows above. It is a common arrangement on storehouses and compound walls, used here with a fairly tall 9-course base.

What to Look For

Count the courses. Nine boards cover the base before the wall turns white, and where that line falls relative to your eye level changes how solid the wall feels.

Then look down. The shibaishi footing and the stone drain appear to have been built to carry rainwater from inside the grounds out toward the road, the kind of care that shows up in places few people notice.

At the north end the white plaster meets the Long Storehouse, left at its intermediate clay coat. Along the whole street front, this junction is where the change in texture is sharpest.

Visiting

Because it faces the street, the Hatta Family Residence Wall can be seen in full from the pavement on National Route 403 (checked September 2026). The grounds behind it are not open to the public.

The property is private. Do not lean on or touch the wall, and take photographs from the pavement.