Former Nashiro Family Residence Stone Wall

What is the Former Nashiro Family Residence Stone Wall?

The Former Nashiro Family Residence Stone Wall (旧名城家住宅石垣, Kyū Nashiro-ke Jūtaku Ishigaki) is a coral stone enclosure built around 1905 in Serikyaku, Izena Village, Okinawa Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on November 29, 2016.

The Ishigaki runs right around the plot of the former Nashiro family. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a stone structure 116 meters long, counted as one unit. Izena Village owns it, and the main house registered on the same day stands inside.

Why the stone wall was registered

The Nashiro wall was registered under the criterion of being difficult to reproduce. According to the Agency's description, it encloses all four sides of the plot, stands a little over 1.5 meters high, measures 0.7 meters across at the base, and follows its bends for a total of 116 meters.

The stones are pieces of coral rock stacked in their natural shapes, a technique known as Nozurazumi. The entrance opens on the south front, and the corners are not squared off but finished in smooth curves. The Agency notes that walls of this kind once defined the traditional house plots of Izena and have since become scarce.

Stacking irregular coral stones so that they hold together means reading the shape of each piece and finding where it locks against its neighbors. Rebuilding 116 meters of it with the same material and the same hand would be hard, and that difficulty is what the registration recognizes.

What to look for along the Former Nashiro Family Residence Stone Wall

Look closely at the face of the wall. The coral stones sit in their own varied outlines, large and small, without the even joints of cut masonry, so light falling across the surface breaks into small shadows.

Then find a corner. On the Nashiro wall the corners do not turn sharply; they swing round in a curve. Walking past the corners of the plot, you can watch the wall bend and change direction without a seam.

The south entrance is the best place to judge the height. At a little over 1.5 meters, the wall comes up to about eye level for an adult and screens the yard from passers-by. In the village's photographs taken after the restoration, the ends of the wall rise on either side of the opening, with the red tile roof of the main house showing beyond.

The wall and the Nashiro house plot

Izena Village's tenant guidelines give the plot as 784 square meters. The Former Nashiro Family Residence Stone Wall marks its outer edge and, together with the main house inside, forms a single household compound. The village finished restoring the main house in March 2015, and the house and the wall were registered on the same day in 2016.

Visiting the Former Nashiro Family Residence Stone Wall

Because the Former Nashiro Family Residence Stone Wall stands on the edge of the plot, its outer face can be seen from the lanes alongside. Inside the wall is a village rental home where people live. Tenants are asked to let visitors onto the grounds, but no current information on viewing is published, so check with the Izena Village Office before stepping inside.

Please do not climb the wall or move its stones; dry-stacked coral shifts easily under weight. There is no official guidance on photography, but when shooting from outside, keep the inside of the home out of the frame.