Onoguchi Family Residence Stone Wall

What Is the Onoguchi Family Residence Stone Wall?

The Onoguchi Family Residence Stone Wall (小野口家住宅石塀, Onoguchi-ke Jūtaku Ishibei) is a wall of stacked Ōya stone built in the mid-Taisho era around an estate in Tanomachi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 18, 2006.

It encloses the estate on every side except the south, running between and linking four of the listed buildings: the nagayamon gatehouse, the former drying shed, the compost shed and the former sake brewery. The national database gives its total length as 174 meters; Utsunomiya City's heritage notes say about 180 meters, a small discrepancy between the two sources.

The dating also differs slightly. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says mid-Taisho, while Utsunomiya City says no later than mid-Taisho. Either way, it falls in the same period as the move of the gatehouse, when the outer face of the estate was being reworked.

The Wall That Ties the Buildings Together

Six Onoguchi buildings had already been registered in 1999. The Onoguchi Family Residence Stone Wall joined them seven years later as the seventh listing, under registration number 09-0152.

It was also listed on a different basis. The six buildings were registered as models of architectural form; the wall was registered as a structure that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. Beyond its own design, it was valued for the coherence it gives the whole estate when seen from outside.

In practice the wall is not a freestanding object. Running north from the gatehouse come the drying shed and the compost shed, and the wall fills the gaps between them and carries on to the brewery at the northern tip, making one continuous face of stone. That long alternation of buildings and wall is what defines the Onoguchi compound from the outside.

Dressed-Stone Footings and Coping

The Onoguchi stone wall is laid up in Ōya stone. Four courses of dressed stone form the footing, the body of the wall rises above them, and Coping stone coping stones cap the top to shed rain.

The west side received the most care. For the top course the masons cut stones into an inverted U-channel shape, so that a row of small window-like openings runs along the crest of the wall. The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits this detail with giving the estate a composed front. The west side is the front of the property, where the gatehouse stands.

How to See It

Because it runs around the outside of the property, the Onoguchi Family Residence Stone Wall is the easiest of the seven listings to see. Start on the west side, the front of the estate, and look at the row of openings along the top course and at how the wall meets the buildings running north from the gatehouse.

The four-course footing and the coping can be checked by walking along the wall. The land inside is a private home, however, and entering the grounds requires the owner's consent. Details on visiting and access are gathered on the Onoguchi Family Residence page.