Yurinso Stone Wall

What Is the Yurinso Stone Wall?

The Yurinso Stone Wall (有隣荘石垣, Yūrinsō Ishigaki) is a cut-stone retaining wall built around 1923 that continues west from the earthen wall at the front of the Yurinso estate in Kuniyasu, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2013.

It stands about 1.6 m high and runs 45 m, forming the western half of the estate's front. It also holds back the soil of the main garden behind it, and its top is planted.

Why the Yurinso Stone Wall Was Registered

The Yurinso Stone Wall was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, number 31-0182, the last of the nine, together with the gatehouse, earthen wall and six other structures, for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. It is counted as one structure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits it with creating, together with the garden, a fine landscape setting. Tottori Prefecture adds that the stone wall and gatehouse at the front set off the dignity of the old family's estate. It is not a building, but from outside, it is the largest thing you see after the gatehouse itself.

What to Look for at the Yurinso Stone Wall

Three courses of tuff

The Yurinso Stone Wall is built of large blocks of tuff, a soft volcanic stone, cut into rectangles. They are laid in Nunozumi, coursed masonry in which each row of stones is the same height so the horizontal joints run straight, and there are just three courses. Few stones, each of them big, give even a long wall a calm, even look.

Edo-cut edges

Each face is finished in the Edokiri manner: a narrow flat margin is dressed around the edge of the block, leaving the center slightly proud. The result is a crisp band around every stone that sharpens the joint lines. When low sun strikes the wall at an angle, the step between margin and center shows as a thin line of shadow.

A battered face

The face is battered, leaning back slightly as it rises instead of standing vertical, as a retaining wall must to resist the earth behind it. You can see the slope best from the end of the wall. The planting along the top frames the edge of the main garden from the outside.

Visiting the Yurinso Stone Wall

The Yurinso Stone Wall lines the front of the estate west of the earthen wall, so its exterior can be seen from outside the property without a booking (checked October 2, 2026).

It holds up the garden behind it, so please do not climb it or disturb the planting on top. A good way to see it is to start at the gatehouse and walk west, noting where plaster gives way to stone. Directions are on the Yurinso page.