Former Kitamuro Hospital Stone Wall

What Is the Former Kitamuro Hospital Stone Wall?

The Former Kitamuro Hospital Stone Wall (旧北室醫院石垣, Kyū Kitamuro Iin Ishigaki) is a stone retaining wall 64 meters in total length, built in the late Taisho era in Handa, Tsurugi Town, Tokushima Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 17, 2020. It stands on the north side of the compound, where the land drops a level toward the Yoshino River, and holds up the higher ground on which the hospital stands.

It is counted as 1 structure. Among the 7 Kitamuro entries it is the only piece of civil engineering, neither building nor fence, and its registered address, 182-1 Matsubae and other lots, spans more than one land parcel.

Why the Former Kitamuro Hospital Stone Wall Was Registered

The Former Kitamuro Hospital Stone Wall became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a structure that gives order to the north edge of the estate.

The key is the stone itself. The Kitamuro Stone Wall (Ishigaki) is built mainly of Awa blue stone, the green chlorite schist found along the Yoshino River. Tinged blue-green and splitting into thin flat slabs, it is a local material long used for stonework in the Yoshino valley. A riverside hospital edged its land with stone from the same river basin, and that is where the wall's regional character lies.

Where the earthen wall on the south side forms the front of the compound, the stone wall decides how the estate looks from the river side. In the same late Taisho years, the Kitamuro family finished off both the front and back edges of their land.

What to Look For at the Kitamuro Stone Wall

A staggered line

The wall runs from the northwest corner to about the middle of the north side. Rather than a straight line, it steps in and out to follow the shape of the plot, in the arrangement Japanese builders call gankō, after the offset formation of flying geese. Each step creates a new corner, giving the long wall a rhythm of light and shadow.

Flat stones, squared stones and interlocked corners

The wall is built up of flat slabs and squared blocks of blue stone, with the corners laid in Sangi-zumi, alternating long and short faces of rectangular stones from one course to the next. With so many corners in a staggered wall, the way they are bonded matters a great deal to its strength. Because the schist splits thin, the face shows horizontal layers of flat stones stacked one on another.

The color of the stone

Chlorite schist looks different wet and dry. Rain deepens its blue-green tone, so seen after a shower it is easy to understand why it is called blue stone. The museum's website includes a photograph of this blue stone wall.

Seeing the Former Kitamuro Hospital Stone Wall

The Former Kitamuro Hospital Stone Wall lines the north edge of the site, and its full shape is easiest to grasp looking up from the lower ground on the river side. The museum does not say, however, how far visitors can go on that lower land.

On a guided visit booked with the Former Kitamuro Hospital Medical Museum you can enter the grounds and look at the top of the wall and its stepped line from near the ward or the northwest corner. Ask when you book where it can be seen from. Booking and transport details are on the Former Kitamuro Hospital page.