Former Umino Family Residence Wall

The Brick Wall around the Umino Grounds

The Former Umino Family Residence Wall (旧海野家住宅塀) is a brick boundary wall of around 1928 in Sukematsucho, Izumiotsu City, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on May 2, 2017 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a brick wall with a total length of 31 metres; registration number 27-0666.

Three Parts, One Wall

The Former Umino Family Residence Wall is made up of three parts: the outer wall along the west side of the plot, a wall fountain that runs east from the middle of the outer wall, and a garden wall on the east side of the front garden (Agency for Cultural Affairs). All are brick, finished with sprayed mortar.

The face of the outer wall is cut with a row of shallow, round-headed arches, leaving pilasters standing between them (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Osaka Bunkazai Navi). The surface is flat, yet it reads like a colonnade.

The wall fountain reaches into the garden and divides it. Osaka Bunkazai Navi draws attention to its semicircular basin and the moulded frame of its opening; the garden wall to the east also has an arch (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered the Umino wall as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country, citing the colonnade-like design of the outer wall, which works with the semicircular wall fountain and the arched garden wall to give order to the grounds.

Osaka Bunkazai Navi adds that the row of arches lends the boundary a sense of depth, much like a drawing in perspective.

What to Look For

The detail to look for is the shallow carving of the outer wall. When light falls across it at a low angle, the shadows line up and the pilasters stand out.

Arches recur on the main house too, on the terrace and in the upper windows (Osaka Bunkazai Navi), so the Umino wall carries the design of the house out to the edge of the plot.

Visiting

The Former Umino Family Residence Wall encloses a private home, and the grounds are closed to visitors (Osaka Bunkazai Navi). The wall fountain and the garden wall stand inside the boundary and are not normally visible. At the city's Cultural Property Open Day on December 6, 2025, the garden itself was used for the event (Izumiotsu City Board of Education).