North and East Walls of the Menzan Atsuya Residence

Mezan Atsushi Residence, North and East Walls

Among the hillside houses of Saho, a hamlet in northern Ibaraki City, the Mezan Atsushi Residence keeps a compound whose outer walls and storehouses shape the local streetscape. Eight of its structures were entered on the national register in December 2000.

Along the road on the north side of the grounds, and again at the boundary of the approach path east of the main house, runs a roofed boundary wall some 25 meters in length. Built in 1912, it is the longer of the estate's two registered walls and does much to set the tone of the street front.

Why It Is Registered

Posts stand at intervals of half a ken beneath a pantile roof. The outer face is dressed in two bands, black lime plaster above and vertical boarding below, and the exposed timber is painted red. Where the ridge changes direction, small ridge-end tiles are set as accents. The walls of the kitchen wing and the privy carry the same treatment, so the whole street side reads as one composition.

What to Look For

A wall is easy to overlook, but here it is a designed object. The red timber, the black plaster and the punctuating tiles turn a boundary into part of the estate's public face, and the register lists it for exactly that contribution to the historic landscape of Saho.

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.