What the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence Is
The Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence (丸井家住宅待合及び塀・袖垣, Marui-ke Jūtaku Machiai oyobi Hei, Sodegaki) is a garden waiting bench with its walls and fence, built around 1916 in the tea garden of the Marui family estate in Etchumachi, Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture, and entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on October 27, 2017.
The Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence is one registration covering three parts. At its centre is the arbor, a single-storey timber shelter roofed in sheet steel with a building area of just 1.9 square meters. A tiled wall runs north and south from it for 11 meters, and a bamboo sleeve fence adds 3.8 meters more. It stands midway along the eastern edge of the plot, southeast of the tea house.
Kurayoshi City's list calls the arbor a koshikake-machiai, a covered waiting bench. The wording differs, but it is the same registration.
Why the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor Was Registered
The Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence carries registration no. 31-236 and was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs ends its description by calling it a building that forms part of the garden scenery.
The Marui garden takes Mount Utsubuki as borrowed scenery, and the arbor and its fences sit inside that composition. What counts here is not the size of the structure but the part it plays in the view.
The Agency names the Marui household as one of the centres of Kurayoshi's tea circles from the Taisho era into the early Showa years. With the tea house and the waiting arbor both surviving, the basic layout of the family's tea garden is still complete.
Layout and Roof of the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor
From north to south the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence runs: sleeve fence, Koshikake-machiai, privy, all under one continuous sheet-steel roof. The waiting bench is where guests at a tea gathering sit until the host comes to lead them in; the privy belongs to the standard fittings of a Roji, the tea garden path; and the sleeve fence is a short screen that projects from the end of a wall like the sleeve of a kimono. Here the whole set is lined up beneath a single roof.
The detail the Agency picks out is the roof structure. The sheathing is cedar bark, the rafters are round poles with the bark left on, and the lathing above them is round poles as well. Sawn boards and squared timber are avoided on purpose, and the bark-covered materials give the arbor the rough look of a hut in the hills.
The tiled wall registered here is not the red street wall on the north side of the estate, the separately registered Marui Family Residence Wall, 13 meters long. This one is an inner wall along the eastern edge of the garden, marking the boundary of the tea garden.
Visiting the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor
The Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence stands inside the garden of a private estate and cannot be seen from the street on the north side. Kurayoshi City lists the Marui Family Residence as closed inside, so the garden cannot be entered.
The photographs in the Agency's database and on Cultural Heritage Online are the way to see the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence.
Q&A
- Can I visit the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence?
- No. The Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence is in the garden of a private estate, and Kurayoshi City lists the property as closed inside. It cannot be seen from the street.
- What does the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence registration include?
- Three parts registered as one: a single-storey timber waiting arbor with a sheet-steel roof and a building area of 1.9 square meters, a tiled wall 11 meters long running north and south of it, and a bamboo sleeve fence 3.8 meters long.
- How is the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor laid out?
- From north to south: sleeve fence, waiting bench and privy, under one continuous sheet-steel roof. It stands midway along the eastern edge of the estate, southeast of the tea house.
- What materials make the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor distinctive?
- The roof uses cedar-bark sheathing, round rafters with the bark left on and round-pole lathing. The Agency cites these rustic materials in describing it as part of the garden scenery.
- When was the Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence registered?
- It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 27, 2017, under number 31-236. It is dated to around 1916.
Basic Information
| Name | Marui Family Residence Waiting Arbor, Wall and Sleeve Fence (丸井家住宅待合及び塀・袖垣) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2149 Etchumachi, Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), registration no. 31-236 |
| Year Designated | Registered October 27, 2017 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Arbor: timber, single storey, sheet-steel roof, building area 1.9 square meters. Wall: timber, tiled, 11 meters long. Sleeve fence: bamboo, 3.8 meters long |
| Owner | Unknown (not listed in the Agency database) |
| Public Access | Closed |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Maruike Jutaku Machiai oyobi Hei, Sodegaki
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012017
- Cultural Heritage Online: Maruike Jutaku Machiai oyobi Hei, Sodegaki
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/245738
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Maruike Jutaku Hei
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012018
- Kurayoshi City: Cultural Properties of the Uwanada, Seitoku and Meirin Districts
- https://www.city.kurayoshi.lg.jp/gyousei/div/kyouiku/bunkazai/1/1/5/
Last verified: 2026.10.04
