Kurashiki - Welcome to Kurashiki-DEN

Visit Kurashiki

～Ohara’s achievements～

The area around Kurashiki was once an ocean until flooding and reclamation of the Takahashi River turned it to land.
Around 1600, it was almost land and in 1642 it was in direct control of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Since then, the around Kurashiki has developed as a trading center of rich products. At the time, the Kurahsiki Canal was used to transport these goods into the city. The white walls on some buildings in Kurashiki were a sign of wealth which came from the trading industry.

Magosaburo Ohara who contributed to town development

The Ohara family is the landlord of Kurashiki, and the second president of Kurashiki Spinner (later Kurabo), Magosaburo Ohara, performed various charitable and social activities.

1902	Established Elementary School in the factory. Established Kurashiki Commercial Repair School (current Kurashiki Commercial High School).
1914	Established Ohara Scholarship Agricultural Research Institute (now Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University).
1919	Established Ohara Institute for Social Issues (now The Ohara Institute for Social Research, Hosei Univ.).
1921	Established Kurashiki Labor Science Laboratories (now The Ohara Memorial Institute for Science of Labour).
1923	Established Kurabo Central Hospital (now Kurashiki Central Hospital) Not only the workers but also the citizens are treated, and now it is one of the leading general hospitals in the country.
1930	Established Japan’s first private Western art museum, Ohara Museum of Art.

Beautiful Kurashiki town

Kurashiki is a national tourist attraction known for its traditional landscape. The historic buildings have been renovated into cafes and shops for people to visit. I would like you to enjoy the town of beautiful, white, Nakamo walls.

Spots related to the Ohara family

There are buildings related to the Ohara family all over Kurashiki.

Ohara Museum of Art Ohara House Katalyzer Imabashi Yurin-So Villa Kurashiki Folk Crafts Museum Kurashiki Archaeological Museum Former Chugoku Bank , Kurashiki Honmachi Branch Ivy Square AchiShrine

Ohara Museum of Art

HP

Ohara Magosaburo and Japanese painter, Kojima Torajiro worked together to collect art from all around the world to open the first western Art Museum in Japan. The Ohara art Museum displays Western Art, Egyptian art, Oriental art, and Chinese art. El Greco “The Annuciation”, Monet “water Lillies,… are some of their many famous works.

Ohara House Katalyzer

HP

The main building of the Ohara family’s house was built in the late Meiji era and is now open to the public as the “Ohara House Katlyzer”.

Imabashi

The imabashi was restored in 1926 with the funding of Ohara Magosaburo. The balustrade was designed by Koji Torajiro.

Yurin-So Villa

The Ohara Family Annes was built in 1928 by Ohara Magosaburo for his sick wife. The unique green tiles are said to be “green palaces”.

Kurashiki Museum of Folk Craft

HP

This is the second folk art museum opened in Japan in 1948.
About 1,500 folk crafts from Japan and around the world were collected from the four Yonekura buildings of the late Edo period, and was provided by the son of Ohara Magosaburo and Soichiro Ohara.The Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo, created in 1936, was donated by Ohara Magosaburo.

Kurashiki Archaeological
Museum

HP

The kurashiki Archaeological Museum was renovated and opened in Yonekura during the Edo period in 1950. Exhibits on excavations from the Kibi region, extends from Okayama Prefecture to eastern Hiroshima Prefecture.
It is famous for the beauty of the tiles on the side walls of the building.

Former Chugoku Bank ,
Kurashiki Honmachi Branch

A two-story western building with reinforced concrete. It was built in 1922 by Ohara Magosaburo. The stained-glass windows and Renaissance-style buildings with pillars on the front and side have become registered tangible cultural properties of the country, and were used as the Kurashiki Honmachi office of the Chugoku Bank until 2016. In autumn 2022, the museum will be opened as a base for exhibiting and studying ancient Egyptian and West Asian cultural properties collected by Western painters Torajiro Kojima (1881-1929).

Ivy Square

HP

Ivy Square was a former factory of KURABO INDUSTRIES LTD ich was built in 1889 on the ruins of the government office of the Edo Shogunate. It was rebuilt as a hotel in 1973. The building was certified as a “Modernized Industrial Heritage” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2007.

AchiShrine

HP

The Achi Shrine is an 1700 year old anceint shrine, that has been enshrined on the summit of Mt. Tsurugata in a corner of the Bikan district. This is a view overlooking the beautiful scenery of tiled roofs.

go to the Kurashiki convention and visit the bureau sites