Kurashiki is the city center stretching from JR Kurashiki Station to the Bikan Historical Area, along with the surrounding region.
Once a thriving port, it developed into a distribution hub for goods after becoming a domain under the direct control of the shogunate during the Edo period. Along the Kurashiki River, streetscapes remain where white-walled residences harmonize with Western-style buildings.
In the Shō district in the northeast, the Tatetsuki Site, dating back about 1,800 years, remains. Chayamachi in the southeast is the hometown of Isosaki Minkame, who invented the floral mat “Kinkanen” during the Meiji period, and has a memorial museum. In Nishi-Achi in the west is Henshoin Temple, said to have been founded during the Heian period.
