The town of Kurashiki lies in western Honshu near the Inland Sea. Although it is now part of the extensive industrial area around Mizushima the old town has largely preserved its original character. It has much of interest for visitors with its old dwelling houses and warehouses, the willow-fringed canals and stone bridges, and a number of fine museums.
At the beginning of the 17th C an administrative office of the Shogunate was established in Kurashiki, and the small village soon developed into an important marketing center for rice, sake and cotton. The warehouses then built gave the town its name (kura = "warehouse", yashiki = "village"). The town's economy now centers on textiles, petrochemicals, steel and engineering, together with the production of ceramics (Bizen-yaki and Ohara-yaki).
The Archeological Museum opened in 1950, with materials recovered by excavation in the Kibi district, together with items from China and South America.
Displays are arranged chronologically by historical period, beginning with stone implements from ten thousand years ago to mortuary urns from the Nara period.
Hours:
January 3 to February 28: 9am-4:30pm; Closed: Mon
March 1 to November 30: 9am-5pm; Closed: Mon, Mon
December 1 to December 28: 9am-4:30pm; Closed: Mon, Mon, Mon
The toy museum features a display of traditional and antique Japanese toys including kites, miniature floats, antique Japanese dolls, masks, and spinning tops.
The Museum of Folk Art was established in 1949 in four former rice stores. The collection includes pottery and porcelain, textiles, wood and bamboo crafts, metal arts and crafts, stone sculptures, as well as glassware.
Hours:
January 2 to February 28: 9am-4:15pm; Closed: Mon
March 31 to November 30: 9am-5pm; Closed: Mon, Mon
December 1 to December 27: 9am-4:15pm; Closed: Mon, Mon, Mon
The Ohara Museum of Art is housed in a building modeled on a Greek temple (by Ohara Magosaburo, 1930), which contains a collection of European art (El Greco, Corot, Gauguin, Picasso and Rodin) and in a recent extension, modern Japanese art, Near Eastern and Far Eastern art, woodcuts and ceramics have been included.
Address: Ohara Museum of Art, 1-1-15 Chuo, Kurashiki, Chugoku 710-8575, Japan
Hours:
January 2 to December 27: 9am-5pm; Closed: Mon
Tips: Last admission half hour before closing. Group discount available for 30 or more.
This is the Temple of Yuga Daigongen, the God of Safe Travel on Water; during the Edo and early Meiji periods it was visited by pilgrims from all over Japan. The Bizen feudal lord, Ikeda, worshipped there frequently and his room has been preserved. Many of the paintings on the screen doors are original.
Read More
Read Less
Kurashiki
