Wada Family Residence East Wall

An Earthen Wall That Follows the Ground

The Wada Family Residence East Wall (和田家住宅東塀, Wada-ke Jūtaku Higashibei) is an earthen wall built in 1930 along the east side of the Wada family estate in Miyamotocho, Kishiwada City, Osaka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 21 August 2002. About 25 metres long, it meets the east gable of the nagayamon gate at its south end and the side wall of the kitchen gate at its north end.

The wall rises from a stone base laid in Nunozumi courses and is topped with a roof of Hongawarabuki tiles. The ground along the east side rises and falls gently, and the wall steps down partway along its length.

Why It Was Registered

The Wada Family Residence East Wall was registered for its contribution to the historic townscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs praises the skill with which it handles the change in level while completing the outer edge of the estate.

It links two very different gates, the formal nagayamon at the south and the service gate at the north, closing the whole east side of the property between them.

What to Look For

The step is the thing to find. Rather than holding one height along uneven ground, the builders dropped the wall a notch to follow the slope, and the roofline kinks there, tiles and plaster stepping down together.

The stone base is laid in level courses with long horizontal joints. The outer wall on the south side of the same estate uses diagonal tanizumi masonry instead, so walking from one to the other shows two ways of building a stone base on a single property.

At each end the wall is tied into a building: the gable of the nagayamon to the south, the side wall of the kitchen gate to the north. Both junctions can be seen from outside.

Visiting the East Wall

The Wada Family Residence East Wall is part of the estate's perimeter and can be seen from outside. The grounds behind it are a private home and closed to visitors.

The step in the roofline reads best from a few paces back, looking along the wall at an angle. Directions and visiting etiquette for the estate are on the Wada Family Residence page.