Abstract

A “dozo-dukuri” is a type of traditional Japanese building characterized by a box-shaped wall structure built with thick earthen walls. This structure is referred to as the dozo structure in this paper. However, very little information on the seismic performance of dozo structures have been provided in the literature. Therefore, we performed a horizontal loading test on full-scale walls produced based on survey results and specifications of earthen walls around the northern Kanto region to determine the walls’ structural performance when receiving a horizontal force (e.g., an earthquake). As a case study, the seismic performance of an existing building was evaluated using the test results. The case study results indicate that if the maximum response deformation angle is equal to that in the calculation result or less, the possibility of a building collapse due to the assumed ground motion is low.