Tanaka Family Residence Outer Wall

The Tanaka Family Residence Outer Wall

The Tanaka Family Residence Outer Wall (田中家住宅外塀, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Sotobei) is an early-Showa tiled wall around the Tanaka compound in Takaminosato, Matsubara City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 3, 2006. It is 47 metres long, running along the western part of the north side and the west side south of the storehouse.

It is a timber-framed wall with a gabled pantile roof, vertical boarding along the lower part and white plaster above.

Windows in a Wall

The Tanaka Family Residence Outer Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. Along the north side, the upper band of plaster is pierced with openings shaped like mushiko lattice windows, some oval like old koban coins and some long and narrow. Matsubara City notes that these openings, facing the approach to Takami Shrine, dress up the street.

Openings like these give a residential face to what would otherwise be a blank run of wall, and they seem to echo the real mushiko windows on the upper front of the main house.

Back Gate and Wicket Door

On the west side there is a back gate south of the storehouse and a small wicket door near the south end. While the nagaya gate on the north served as the main entrance, the west road had its own everyday way in. Walking the north and west sides, you can see the gate, storehouse and wall forming one continuous perimeter.

Seeing the Wall

The Outer Wall faces the roads on the north and west, so it can be seen from the public street. Matsubara City states that the house is still lived in and that the grounds and buildings cannot be visited.