Naito Family Residence Courtyard North Wall

A Wall on the Canal Bank

The Naito Family Residence Courtyard North Wall (内藤家住宅中庭北塀) is a garden wall of about 1910 in Ikedacho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on August 7, 2023 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a tiled timber wall 12 metres long, although the Agency's description gives its length as 12.3 metres; registration number 29-0356.

A Wall along the Water Channel

The Naito Family Residence Courtyard North Wall runs along the northern edge of the compound of an old family in a formerly moated village, under a pantiled coping (Agency for Cultural Affairs). On the north side it stands on long stone sills laid on the stone embankment of a water channel, and the face is fully plastered over the timber frame, in the Ōkabe manner, above board wainscoting.

The south face, toward the garden, is plastered with the posts left visible, in the Shinkabe manner, and is braced at two points by granite buttress posts (Agency for Cultural Affairs). This side serves as the backdrop to the formal garden north of the main house. Nara City notes posts set at half-bay intervals and tall wainscoting on the channel side.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered the wall for its contribution to the historic landscape, noting that it forms part of a traditional rural scene. Nara City says that, together with the buildings on either side and the water channel, it creates a long and orderly street view.

What to Look For

This wall has two faces. On the channel side the posts are hidden behind plaster above tall wainscoting; on the garden side they are left exposed (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Nara City).

Look also for the two granite buttress posts on the garden side and the stone sills on top of the embankment. Nara City's cultural properties page has photographs of both faces.

Visiting

The north face of the Naito Family Residence Courtyard North Wall looks onto the water channel (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Nara City). The residence is a private home, and no official information on access to the garden side was found.