なまこ壁の家を訪ねて / Visiting a Residence Featuring Namako-Kabe Walls
- 山内 真一
- 8月2日
- 読了時間: 3分
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清水歴史散策（Ｉ）
第弐話 なまこ壁の家と蒲原宿 １．なまこ壁の家を訪ねて
なまこ壁の家を訪ねて
JR新蒲原駅を降りて旧東海道を西へ数分。軒の低い町家が続く通りに、平屋とは思えない横幅のある一軒がそっとたたずんでいます。明治20年ごろに建てられ、昭和50年頃まで和菓子と煎餅・飴を製造販売していた元菓子店──吉田家住宅です。家の歴史を示す木札の営業許可証も、同じく明治20年の日付が読めます。
玄関をくぐると、通り土間が鍵形に折れ曲がりながら奥へ延び、その両側に客間や作業場が並ぶ典型的な「町家造り」。かつては近所の人びとが土間を路地代わりに行き来し、食事中でも声をかけ合ったという開放的な暮らしぶりが伺えます。太く力強い大黒柱に支えられた店の間は敷居が一段低く、商品を並べた棚越しに客と対面していた名残がそのまま残ります。
外観最大の見どころは、街道側全面を覆う「なまこ壁」。黒い瓦を菱形に張り、その継ぎ目を漆喰でかまぼこ状に盛り上げた立体的な意匠です。住居としてこの壁を用いる家は蒲原宿にわずか二軒しかなく、職人不足のいまでは維持できる例自体が稀少といわれます。30 cm近い厚さの土壁は、竹を格子状に組んだ木舞に粘土を塗り重ねたもので、火災に強く夏涼しく冬暖かい──先人の知恵が詰まった「塗り家造り」です。
こうした構造と素材が百四十年近く家を支え、今も白い漆喰と黒瓦のコントラストが往時の商家らしい風格を伝えています。土間に立てば、お菓子の甘い香りが漂っていた日々や、子どもたちが「カステーラ！」と声を張り上げた情景が目に浮かぶよう。旧東海道歩きの道中、ぜひ足を止めて壁の質感や柱の太さを眺め、明治の職人技に触れてみてください。
さて、もし皆さんがこの家を訪ねるとしたら、通り土間のどのあたりに立ってみたいでしょう？ 想像しながら、次の清水散策の計画を練ってみてくださいね。
Visiting a Residence Featuring Namako-Kabe Walls
A few minutes’ walk west along the old Tōkaidō after leaving JR Shin-Kambara Station, you will notice a remarkably wide single-story building set among rows of low-eaved townhouses. Erected around 1887 (Meiji 20) and operated until the mid-1970s as a shop producing wagashi, rice crackers, and hard candy, the former Yoshida family residence still displays a wooden business licence bearing the same Meiji 20 date.
Step inside and you find a key-shaped earthen corridor (kagi-gata tōri-doma) that extends deep into the house, flanked by guest rooms and workspaces in the classic machiya layout. In earlier times neighbours treated this doma as a public alley, walking through even at mealtimes and chatting with the family—evidence of a notably open way of life. The front sales room, supported by a massive central pillar, sits one step lower than the living quarters, preserving the arrangement
in which goods were displayed on shelves while the proprietor greeted customers face to face.
The façade’s most distinctive element is the namako-kabe that covers the entire street-side wall. Square black tiles are set on the diagonal, their joints raised with thick white plaster that forms a profile likened to sea cucumbers (namako). Only two surviving houses in Kambara-juku use this technique for an ordinary dwelling, and the shortage of skilled plasterers today makes upkeep increasingly rare. Behind the tiles lies an earthen wall nearly 30 cm thick: layers of clay applied to a lattice of split bamboo (komai). This nuri-ya construction resists fire, remains cool in summer, and retains warmth in winter—an embodiment of practical knowledge handed down through generations.
For almost 140 years these structural devices and materials have sustained the house, and the contrast between white plaster and black tiles still projects the dignity of a Meiji-period merchant’s premises. Stand on the earthen floor and you may almost catch the scent of sweets that once filled the shop, or hear children calling out for castella sponge cake. As you stroll the old Tōkaidō, pause here to feel the texture of the walls and gauge the girth of the central pillar, and appreciate the late-nineteenth-century craftsmanship on display.
If you were to visit, where along that earthen corridor would you choose to stand? Let the question guide your imagination as you plan your next historical ramble through Shimizu.
