Kamamura Family Residence West Earthen Wall

What the West Earthen Wall Is

The Kamamura Family Residence West Earthen Wall (鎌村家住宅西土塀) is a tile-capped earthen wall from the late Edo period in Boso, Mima-cho, Mima City, Tokushima Prefecture, entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 5, 2007.

It stands west of the toilet block and marks the western edge of the property, running south from the south gable of the storehouse for 14 meters.

Why It Was Registered

The wall was listed with the rest of the homestead as a structure contributing to the historic landscape. Its registration number, 36-0069, is the last of the nine.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the wall is 0.5 meters wide at the base and 1.5 meters high overall, capped with sangawara tile. That is the classic earthen-wall formula: a body of rammed and plastered earth with a tile top to shed the rain.

The wall also tells part of the homestead's story. Its south end once reached an earthen storehouse that has since been demolished, and its north end is thought to have originally joined the building that preceded the present storehouse. The wall itself dates from late Edo; the structures at either end are the parts that have changed or disappeared.

Mima City notes that earthen walls probably once enclosed the whole plot and that a section still stands south of the storehouse. The West Earthen Wall survives from that enclosure and still marks the boundary on the west.

What to Look For

Start at the north end of the Kamamura Family Residence West Earthen Wall, where it meets the storehouse. A late Edo wall abuts the gable of an 1891 building, two periods joined in a single line.

At 1.5 meters the wall comes to about chest or shoulder height on an adult. It screens the yard from outside while leaving the view out from inside open, which is about right for a boundary marker.

Follow it south and the wall simply stops. The agency's note that it once ran up to a storehouse fills in what is missing. Stand at the south end and imagine where that lost building stood.

Visiting

The Kamamura Family Residence West Earthen Wall is on the western edge of a private homestead, and visits must be arranged with the owner in advance.

From inside the compound, west of the toilet block, you can follow the wall from its junction with the storehouse to its south end. Earthen walls are easily damaged by weather and handling, so do not touch or lean on it. Ask about photography when you apply.