Wakimachi's udatsu: the Tokushima merchant walls that live on in a Japanese idiom

In Wakimachi, on the north bank of the Yoshino River in Tokushima, the merchant houses of Minami-machi carry small plastered walls at the ends of their upper storeys. They are called udatsu (うだつ), and the Japanese language still uses them to measure a life.

A firewall that became a boast

An udatsu is a wing wall, tiled on top and finished in white plaster, that projects between one house and the next. It was built to stop fire travelling along a row of wooden roofs. It was also expensive, so a pair of them told the street that the family inside had done well.

Hence the idiom udatsu ga agaranai, said of someone who never quite gets ahead. Literally, their udatsu does not go up.

うだつが上がらない。

What indigo paid for

Wakimachi grew rich shipping Awa indigo down the river, and the money went into the street. Minami-machi runs for about 430 metres, lined with dark lattice fronts, heavy tile and thick plaster. The oldest house is dated to 1707, and the street has been a nationally designated preservation district since 1988.

Walking it

The nearest station is Anabuki on the JR Tokushima Line, across the river; a taxi takes about ten minutes. Come early or late in the day, when low light picks out the plaster. Look up rather than ahead. The walls differ from house to house in height, tilework and ornament, and reading those differences is the visit.