Izumi City Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art Teahouse Well Curb

A well that was never meant to hold water

The Izumi City Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art Teahouse Well Curb (井筒, izutsu) is a stone well curb set in 1937 in the garden of the Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art in Uchida-cho, Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.

An izutsu is the frame around the mouth of a well. This one stands east of the Umemi Gate, in the outer Roji leading to Chosentei, the larger of the compound's two copied tea rooms. Four natural granite stones are fitted together into a frame about 70 cm square, covering roughly 0.49 square metres.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives its depth as about 50 cm and notes that it has no function as a well; Osaka Bunkazai Navi puts the depth at 40 to 50 cm. It was placed as part of the garden scene, not to draw water.

Why it was registered

The Izumi City Kuboso Memorial Museum of Art Teahouse Well Curb was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. According to the agency, it imitates the placement of the well in the outer garden of Zangetsu-tei at Omotesenke.

A dry well is a telling detail. Kubo Sotaro II did not stop at copying the tea rooms; he reproduced where things sat in the Omotesenke gardens, down to a well that would never be used. This is the clearest single example of how far the copying went.

What to look for

The four stones are natural, barely worked granite rather than squared blocks, so the frame reads as close to square while keeping the irregular faces of the rock. Look at the joints to see how the pieces were fitted.

Note the position too. The Umemi Gate is just to the west, and Osaka Bunkazai Navi explains that the inner roji lies beyond that gate. The well sits near the boundary between the two gardens.

Visiting

The well curb stands inside Chosentei's outer roji. How far visitors can go during the Sunday Chosentei opening depends on the arrangements that day; the museum notes that some areas are closed for conservation.

The stones are low, so take care not to step or sit on them. Photography of the tea buildings is allowed, but tripods and selfie sticks are not.