A tiled wall around the reception garden
Marumoto Family Residence Wall (丸本家住宅塀, Marumoto-ke Jūtaku Hei) is a timber, tile-capped garden wall of the early Taisho period at 2485 Yoshimune, Honjo, Kamogata-cho, Asakuchi City, Okayama Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 1 December 2003.
It runs for 15 metres, closing the south and west sides of the garden in front of the Marumoto Family Residence Reception Wing. Inside the wall is the family's garden; outside it is the working brewery of shop and storehouses. This one line of wall is where home ends and work begins.
Plain parts, carefully assembled
Marumoto Family Residence Wall starts from a base of dressed stone. The posts stand directly on the stone with no timber sill beneath, so the face of the masonry becomes the foot of the wall.
From the tops of the posts, projecting bracket arms carry a beam, and on that sits a roof of meita-gawara: flat tiles whose joints are covered by narrow cover tiles. It is a type used for walls and small roofs, flatter and finer at the eaves than ordinary pantiles.
Between the posts the wall is finished in grey Shikkui lime plaster, known as nezumi shikkui, or mouse-grey plaster, which sets it apart from the white walls of the storehouses. Lattice windows are opened at intervals so that the garden is not completely shut in, and on the south face only, the lower half is sheathed in vertical boards to protect it near the ground.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the design simple but well composed. Cut stone, posts, brackets, flat tile, grey plaster and lattice: very few elements, put together with enough restraint to suit the centre of the house.
Listed as a pair with the reception wing
It was registered on 1 December 2003 and gazetted on 25 December, in the thirty-ninth round. The registration number is 33-0067 and the criterion is contribution to the historic landscape of the nation.
The Agency treats Marumoto Family Residence Wall as working with the Reception Wing to give shape to the centre of the compound. The two are of different dates, mid-Meiji and early Taisho, and one plausible reading is that the garden was re-enclosed when the shop and storehouses were put up in the Taisho years. No record of how the wall came to be built has been found, however.
Its interest lies less in the wall as an object than in the job it does, marking out a domestic space in the middle of a brewery. Seen from the garden, the grey plaster, the lattice and the thin tiled coping form the backdrop to the reception wing.
Visiting
Marumoto Family Residence Wall stands inside the compound, enclosing the reception garden, and cannot easily be seen from the road. From the garden side, look for the vertical boarding on the south face, the lattice windows, and how the wall turns the corner to the west.
The yard is not normally open, and because the brewery's pre-booked tours follow the brewing process, a tour will not necessarily stop here. As of 25 September 2026 no tour dates were scheduled. No photography policy has been published, so ask when booking. Directions and visiting conditions for the whole site are on the Marumoto Family Residence and Marumoto Sake Brewery page. Details were checked on 25 September 2026.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Marumoto Family Residence Wall
- [ Kurashiki Bikan District & Korakuen Garden Tours ]
Q&A
- Can Marumoto Family Residence Wall be seen from outside?
- Not easily. It encloses the inner garden of the reception wing. The yard can only be entered on the brewery's pre-booked tours, and as of 25 September 2026 no tour dates were scheduled.
- How long is Marumoto Family Residence Wall and how is it built?
- It is a timber, tile-capped wall 15 metres long. Posts stand directly on a dressed-stone base, bracket arms carry a beam under a flat-tile roof, and the panels between posts are grey lime plaster with lattice windows at intervals.
- When was Marumoto Family Residence Wall built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Taisho period, later than the mid-Meiji reception wing it encloses.
- Where is Marumoto Family Residence Wall?
- It closes the south and west sides of the garden that lies south of the Marumoto Family Residence Reception Wing.
- When was Marumoto Family Residence Wall registered as a cultural property?
- It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), registered on 1 December 2003 and gazetted on 25 December of that year in the thirty-ninth round, with registration number 33-0067.
Basic Information
| Name | Marumoto Family Residence Wall |
|---|---|
| Location | 2485 Yoshimune, Honjo, Kamogata-cho, Asakuchi City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2003/12/1 (Heisei 15) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, tiled roof, 15 metres long |
| Owner | Marumoto Shuzo Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Encloses an inner garden and is hard to see from outside. Access only on pre-booked brewery tours |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Marumoto Family Residence Wall (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00003696
- Marumoto Shuzo, Okayama Kanko Web (Okayama Tourism Federation)
- https://www.okayama-kanko.jp/spot/detail_11569.html
Last verified: 2026.09.25
