Naruko Family Residence Wall

The Wall Along the Front Street

The Naruko Family Residence Wall (成子家住宅塀, Naruko-ke Jūtaku Hei) in Ozaki, Hannan City, Osaka Prefecture, is a Taisho-era (1912–1926) tile-capped wall along the front street of the Naniwa Shuzo brewers' home, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 12 October 2001. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as brick, tile-roofed and 11 metres long.

It stands at the southeast of the compound, forming the boundary with the street from the main house past the front gate. The agency's explanatory note gives its length as 10.5 metres, slightly different from the 11 metres in the structure field, and the published data does not say which is right.

The gate is also listed with an attached west wall, and where that ends and the Naruko Family Residence Wall begins cannot be told from the published record either.

Roofline in Common with the House

According to the agency, the wall stands on a stone base, is finished to look like an earthen wall, and carries a Sangawara-buki pantile coping. Read together with the brick entry in the structure field, it appears to be a brick wall rendered to resemble earth.

What the agency values above all is continuity. The round-tiled pent roof that runs from Brewhouse No. 4 along the main house merges visually with the wall's own tiled coping. Brewhouse gable, long house front, wall and gate are strung together on one horizontal line of tile, and the Naruko Family Residence Wall carries its final stretch.

The agency calls it valuable for keeping the front street visually continuous. Take the wall away and the eave line of the house would simply stop. A structure that attracts no attention on its own holds the whole frontage together.

Like the other nine structures, it was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

What to Look For

Stand back along the front street and take in Brewhouse No. 4, the main house, the wall and the gate in one view. The tiled roofs sit at matching heights and angles, and the pent roof and wall coping read as a single line.

Then move closer and look at the face and foot of the wall: the join between the stone base and the earth-coloured render above it, and how the tile coping is finished at the edge. Wear or patching in the render can hint at what lies beneath.

Seeing the Wall

The Naruko Family Residence Wall faces the front street and can be seen at any time. Cars use the road, so step aside if you stop. The wall marks the edge of private property.

To see the compound behind it, book Naniwa Shuzo's paid, reservation-only brewery tour. Directions and booking details are on the Naruko Family Residence page.