Menzan Atsuya Residence Stone Wall

Mezan Atsushi Residence, Stone Retaining Wall

Set on a slope in the northern Ibaraki hamlet of Saho, the Mezan Atsushi Residence is a walled family compound whose roofs and stonework define the village edge. Eight of its elements were listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2000.

On the western side of the compound, where the ground meets a steep road, a stone retaining wall about 19 meters long holds up the edge of the estate. Registered as a single structure, it is the base on which the west wall above it stands.

Why It Is Registered

The stonework is dry-laid in the nozura manner, using rounded natural fieldstones set without dressing. Rather than a straight line, the builders followed the slope in a gentle curve, and at its southern end the wall rises to about five meters. The evenness of the coursing and the way the stones lock together show a high level of skill.

What to Look For

Well preserved after more than a century, the stone base is valued not only within the estate but as a feature of Saho itself. The register singles it out as a defining element of a landscape that stands for the hamlet as a whole, a piece of engineering that has become part of the scenery.

The Mezan Atsushi Residence is a private home, and its interior is not open to visitors. The village lanes, however, pass close by the walls, storehouses and stone base that face the public road, so the streetscape can be taken in from outside without entering the grounds. For displays on the wider history of the area, the Ibaraki City Cultural Property Museum in the city center is open to the public.