Iritakenishi Family Residence Stone Wall

What is the Iritakenishi Family Residence Stone Wall?

The Iritakenishi Family Residence Stone Wall (入嵩西家住宅石垣, Iritakenishi-ke Jūtaku Ishigaki) is a dressed-stone boundary wall built in 1948 along the east and south sides of the Iritakenishi Family Residence in Shinkawa, Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on July 31, 2007.

The wall runs about 53 meters in total. A pair of stone gateposts stands in its southern stretch, and the registration covers both posts along with the wall.

Why It Was Registered: From Rubble to Cut Stone

The Iritakenishi stone wall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes how its neatly coursed blocks and stone gateposts give the compound a dignified front.

According to Ishigaki City, the wall went up around 1948 to replace an earlier one of rough Ryukyu limestone laid in the Nozurazumi style. For the new wall the builders chose a stone called awaishi and cut it into regular blocks.

That puts the rebuilding in the years just after the Second World War, nearly four decades after the main house. It is the youngest of the four registered structures, yet it is the wall that draws the outline of the compound along the street.

What to Look For: Four Courses and the South Gateway

Each block in the Iritakenishi Family Residence Stone Wall is a long slab about 1.5 meters long, 45 centimeters high and 25 centimeters thick. The national record gives the length as around 150 centimeters and Ishigaki City as about 145 centimeters. Four courses of these make up the wall.

Because the stones are long and the joints run level, the face is marked by four crisp horizontal lines. The effect is nothing like the irregular jigsaw of a rubble wall.

On the south side, about 16 meters from the western end, a gateway just over 3 meters wide breaks the wall. A stone gatepost stands on each side of the opening, marking the way into the homestead.

The wall turns the corner from the east face to the south face. Standing at the southeast corner, you can see how the courses of the two faces meet and carry on.

Visiting the Stone Wall

The Iritakenishi stone wall closes off the east and south sides of the plot, and its outer face lines the street. Of the four registered structures it is the easiest to see, and the coursing and gateposts can be examined from the road.

Behind it, though, is a private home, and the grounds are closed. Please do not walk in through the gateway, lean on the wall or climb it.