Yamamoto Family Residence Stone Wall

A Wall of Wakayama Blue Stone

The Yamamoto Family Residence Stone Wall (山本家住宅石塀, Yamamoto-ke Jūtaku Ishibei) is a wall of local blue-green stone built around 1906 along the south side of the Yamamoto family estate in Sakai, Kainan City, Wakayama Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 2, 2007. It runs along National Route 370 and gives the estate its street face.

According to the national database, the Yamamoto Family Residence Stone Wall closes the east half of the south frontage, separating the garden of the main house's reception wing from the road. It runs east for a little over 18 meters from the south end of the gate's flanking wall. It dates from the same years as that reception wing and its garden.

Rough-Laid Chlorite Schist

The stone is aoishi, the blue-green chlorite schist quarried in Wakayama. Stones about the size of a human head are laid in random rubble fashion, without being cut to matching shapes, so the greenish faces and irregular joints scatter across the whole surface.

The wall is 40 centimeters wide at the base and 1.8 meters high, and its top is shaped into a coping. From the road it stands at about head height, close enough to study each stone.

Why It Was Registered

The Yamamoto Family Residence Stone Wall was registered on October 2, 2007 (registration no. 30-0129) under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. It is counted as one structure.

The national database credits it with lending the streetscape a distinctive atmosphere, and Wakayama Prefecture describes the garden south of the main house as enclosed by a handsome wall of piled schist. Among the black-plastered main house and white-plastered storehouses, the greenish stone stands apart in color and sets the tone of the estate as seen from the road.

What to Look For

Color and coursing. After rain the green of the stone deepens; in sunshine the fine layering of the schist catches the light. The stones vary in size, yet the wall holds a level line along its length, a quiet sign of the mason's skill.

At its west end the wall meets the flanking wall of the gate, and black plaster gives way to blue stone. Pause at that junction. Above the wall you can see the third-floor roof of the reception wing behind.

Seeing the Stone Wall

The Yamamoto Family Residence Stone Wall faces Route 370 and can be seen from public roads at any time. The estate is a private home, so please do not lean on the wall or peer over it into the garden. Directions are on the Yamamoto Family Residence page.