Kurashiki
Template:Infobox City Japan Kurashiki (倉敷市, Kurashiki-shi) is a historic city located to the west of Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea.
As of December 2012, the city has a population of 477,983. The total area is 354.71 square kilometers (136.95 sq mi).
History
The modern city of Kurashiki was founded on April 1, 1928. Previously, it was the site of clashes between the Heike and Genji clans during the Heian period. It gradually developed as a riverport; during the Edo period, it became an area directly controlled by the Shogunate. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store goods. During the Meiji Restoration (Japan's Industrial Revolution period), factories were built, including the Ohara Spinning Mill which still stands as the nostalgic tourist attraction Ivy Square.[1]
On August 1, 2005, the town of Mabi, from Kibi District, and the town of Funao, from Asakuchi District, were merged with Kurashiki.
Attractions
Kurashiki is the home of Japan's first museum for Western art, the Ohara Museum of Art. Established in 1930 by Magosaburō Ōhara, it contains paintings by El Greco, Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, and Renoir. The collection also presents fine examples of Asian and contemporary art. The main building is designed in the style of Neoclassicism.
The old merchant quarter is called the Bikan historical area. It contains many fine examples of 17th century wooden warehouses (kura, 倉) painted white with traditional black tiles, along a canal framed with weeping willows and filled with koi. The area has no electric poles in order to make the area more closely resemble the look of the Meiji period. One of the city's former town halls was located in the Kurashiki Kan, a European style building constructed in 1917.
In 1998 a theme park called Tivoli (after the park of the same name in Copenhagen) opened near Kurashiki Station. After ten years of operation it was closed in 2008, with a massive debt.
The Great Seto Bridge connects the city to Sakaide in Kagawa Prefecture across the Inland Sea.
Kenzo Tange, winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture, designed the former Kurashiki City Hall in 1960.
Colleges and universities
The city is home to several private universities and one public university.
- Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts
- Kurashiki Sakuyo University
- Kawasaki College of Allied Health Professions
- Kurashiki City College (public)
- Okayama College
- Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare
- Kawasaki Medical School
- Kawasaki Medical University
Sister/friendship cities
Kurashiki maintains the following sister/friendship cities.[2]
Sankt Pölten, Austria, September 29, 1957
Kansas City, Missouri, United States since May 28, 1972
Christchurch, New Zealand, March 7, 1973
Zhenjiang, China, November 18, 1997
Notable people from Kurashiki
 |
- Ahn Young-Hak - Japanese-born North Korean football midfielder
- Senichi Hoshino - baseball player
- Keitarou Izawa, a.k.a. Ichiyo Izawa - Pianist, frontman of Appa and former member of Tokyo Jihen
- Kibi Makibi - scholar and noble during the Nara period
- Magosaburō Ōhara - businessman and philanthropist
- Daisuke Takahashi - figure skater
- Joichiro Tatsuyoshi - boxer
- Seishi Yokomizo - novelist
References
- ^ "Kurashiki's History". City of Kurashiki. August 7, 2006.
- ^ Kurashiki's Sister/Friendship Cities
External links
Kurashiki travel guide from Wikivoyage- Kurashiki's official homepage
- Ryokan Kurashiki's website (English)
- Kurashiki's Sister/Friendship Cities
