Sano Family Residence Firewall

What Is the Sano Family Residence Firewall?

The Sano Family Residence Firewall (佐野家住宅防火壁, Sano-ke Jūtaku Bōkaheki) is a brick firewall built around 1900 in Onmadashi-machi, Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture, and it was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 21, 1998. It encloses the south side of the Sano Family Residence, standing 5.6 meters high and running 25 meters long.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs counts the Sano Family Residence Firewall as one structure and classifies it as a structure other than a building, registration number 16-0024. It is the only one of the seven registered elements of the compound without a roof or floor of its own.

Why the Sano Family Residence Firewall Was Registered

The Sano Family Residence Firewall was registered under the criterion of serving as a model of form. The agency adds that it is known as a fine example of a house designed with great care against fire.

The compound has two firewalls, one on each side. The northern one is built into the north wall of the main house and is part of that building. The southern one, the registered structure, stands entirely on its own, leaning on nothing.

After the 1900 Takaoka fire, brick firewalls along property lines became common on the merchant houses around Yamachosuji, but a wall covering an entire 25-meter side of a lot is on another scale. It seals almost the whole southern flank of the property, from the main house at the front to the miso storehouse at the back.

Highlights of the Sano Family Residence Firewall

What distinguishes the Sano Family Residence Firewall is that not only the wall but also the front pier and the small roof along its top are made of brick, all in one piece.

A plastered earthen wall would normally be capped with a timber frame and tiles, which leaves wood exposed at the top. Building the coping itself in brick removes anything that could burn. The pier at the street end both finishes the wall and marks the southern corner of the property.

At the far end, the wall meets the side of the miso storehouse, the southernmost of the four storehouses. Follow it with your eye from the pier to the back and you are tracing one full side of the compound's defenses.

Visiting the Sano Family Residence Firewall

The Sano Family Residence Firewall stands on private land and is not open to the public. However, the pier and the street end of the wall are visible from the road, to the south of the main house facade.

Viewing is limited to the exterior from the public road. The strip along the wall is inside the property, so please do not enter it, and photograph from the street. The restaurant in the main house does not offer access to the wall.