Culture & History

Old Waki Row House Gate

This piece of white wicker on black namako-style wall is located between Hikone Castle's Ni-no-Maru parking area and Hikone East High School, and is a remaining piece of what was once the residence of the castle lord's chief retainer, Waki (who had a stipend of 2,000 koku of rice).
The building's long beams are 15.5 meters in length, and its crossways beams are 5.5 meters (4.5 meters on the building's northern edge). The southern wall features an irmoyahafu gable (with a bottom edge), and the northern wall features a kirizumahafu gable (with no bottom edge). The western side of the outer wall is made in the namako-style (with a white wicker pattern on a black surface); a window and entryway have been added to the northern wall; the edge of the southern wall has an overhang, and the east of the building's rear features an overhang and an entry way (on its southern edge), and is furthermore connected to an attached building (on both southern and northern ends) with a tiled gable: altogether a splendid building. Given the state of this gate, it is thought that it belonged to a row house of quite grand scale.