The Bikan Historical Area is a place that preserves for the present day a townscape where white-walled residences dating back to the Edo period harmonize with Western-style architecture.
Townscapes like the Bikan Historical Area were commonplace in prewar Japan, but gradually disappeared during the postwar period of rapid economic growth. In 1968, during this era, Kurashiki became one of the first cities in Japan to enact the “Kurashiki City Ordinance for the Preservation of Traditional Scenic Beauty,” choosing to preserve this townscape.
However, the Bikan Historical Area is not a town where “old things have been frozen in time.” It has adapted to the times by embracing new things, and is not only a tourist destination but also a “living town” where residents continue to make their homes.
“Learn the History of the Bikan Historical Area” is based on reports and slide materials presented by Taro Yamamoto of the Kurashiki City Historical Materials Preparation Office and Noriyoshi Fujiwara of the Kurashiki City Board of Education at a study session about the Bikan Historical Area held in fiscal 2025 by the voluntary group “Konoma-chi Jikan Ryoko Club.” Drawing on discussions among club members, Kengo Toi, Representative Director of Haretoco General Incorporated Association, compiled this article.
We created this article in the hope that learning based on research findings gained through the study of historical materials will help readers understand the historical facts and traditions (interpretations) associated with the Bikan Historical Area, and provide a foundation for learning about its history.
The information presented is as of the article’s publication in July 2026. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Message from Akane Ohara, representative of “Konoma-chi Jikan Ryoko Club”
The Bikan Historical Area has nurtured a rich story unique to the area, built up layer by layer through people’s lives and activities.
The background to these compelling stories also includes various traditions and interpretations.
Rather than rejecting them, we thought that carefully tracing the historical facts that form the foundation of these stories could also be a way to appreciate this place more deeply.
We hope that sharing the accumulation of facts in a form accessible to as many people as possible will help inspire new creativity and activities among those who love this place.
We hope this article will help enrich each of your relationships with the Bikan Historical Area.
Definition of the Bikan Historical Area
In this article, “Bikan Historical Area” refers to the area designated by the national government as the Kurashiki City Kurashikigawa Riverside Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (Type I Scenic District)—the area shown in blue in the figure below.
Blue: Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, 15.0 ha
Pink: Traditional Scenic Beauty District, 6.0 ha
Yellow: Buffer Zone, 2.2 ha
(Image courtesy of the Kurashiki City Board of Education)
From around 1965, calls grew in Kurashiki for rules to protect its historic townscape. In 1968, the “Kurashiki City Ordinance for the Preservation of Traditional Scenic Beauty” was enacted, making Kurashiki the second city in Japan to do so (the first was Kanazawa City, with its “Ordinance for the Preservation of the Traditional Environment”). It came into effect in 1969. Under the ordinance, the mayor’s consent is required to alter a building’s exterior.
Later, in 1975, a partial revision to the Cultural Properties Protection Act established a new system for Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings. In 1978, Kurashiki enacted the “Kurashiki City Ordinance for the Preservation of Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings” (which came into effect in 1979), and the area was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings by the national government.
Origin of the place name “Kurashiki”
“Kurashiki” is an abbreviation of “kurashikichi,” meaning a collection and distribution point where goods such as land taxes from manors were temporarily stored before being transported—something like a modern-day “warehouse district.” It is therefore a term, not a place name or word with any special meaning.
The term “kurashiki” was used in various places in western Japan in ancient and medieval times. The best-known place called “Kurashiki” was in what is now Onomichi, where it was established to ship out land taxes from the manor of Ota.
As a place name, Kurashiki existed as the former name of both present-day Kurashiki City and Hayashino in Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture. The name “Kurashiki” referring to the area around present-day Kurashiki City dates back to the late 16th century.
- August 1585, “Memorandum on the Origins of the Eight Villages”
“At that time, the eight villages were Hamamura, Koishono-mura, Higashi-Achi-mura, Mita-mura, Nishinosho-mura, Itsukaichi-mura, Futsukaichi-mura, and Hayashima-mura. At that time, a request concerning the water was made from Kurashiki-mura, ...”
History of Hayashima, Vol. 3: Historical Documents, p. 42 - September 29, 1566, “Diary of an Entry into Niimi Manor, Bitchu Province”
“...from Kurashiki to Shiwaku...”
New History of Kurashiki City, Vol. 9, p. 430 - June 8, 1575, “Letter from Kobayakawa Takakage”
“I urgently report that, having requested reinforcements from Awa and Sanuki regarding Tsuneyama, we were able to hold our position. Yesterday we advanced to Hamakurashiki, and at the hour of the hare this morning it fell. The three—Takanori, his father and son—and his brother and grandson Jiro were all killed. This is a great victory, ...”
New History of Kumamoto City: Historical Documents, Vol. 2, Ancient and Medieval, p. 633
From the Ice Age to the 15th century
History of the Bikan Historical Area
The area around what is now the Bikan Historical Area first appears in the historical record in the late 16th century.
It is said that the area around the Bikan Historical Area was dry land during the Ice Age. Sea levels are thought to have been about 100 meters lower than today, connecting the continent to the Japanese archipelago and leaving the area around the Seto Inland Sea as dry land. Naumann’s elephants are therefore thought to have lived here, and fossils of Naumann’s elephants have in fact been recovered from the seabed of the Seto Inland Sea.
Around this time, humans also seem to have migrated to the Japanese archipelago in search of warmer places. Since the area around the Bikan Historical Area is thought to have been dry land, people may have lived there as well. People at the time moved in search of warm places and food, and had little concept of “settlement,” so no traces of their lives have been found.
(Quoted from New History of Kurashiki City, Vol. 1, p. 59, section written by Tadahiko Makabe and Yoshiko Makabe)
Around 6,000 years ago, during the Jomon period, the Ice Age ended and areas that had been dry land became sea. The same was true around the Bikan Historical Area, but areas now named after mountains, such as Tsurugatayama and Mukoyama, and areas named after islands, such as Hashima, were islands at the time and are thought to have been inhabited by Jomon people.
Evidence of this remains at Hashima Shell Mound and Funakura Shell Mound. The strata at Funakura Shell Mound are particularly deep, suggesting that a relatively large number of people lived there for a long time.
Later, from the Heian period through the Kamakura period, many manors—lands privately controlled by aristocrats, temples and shrines, and powerful figures—were established throughout Japan. The northern part of what is now central Kurashiki City was also organized into manors. Since Kyoto was the political center at the time, the surrounding area developed gradually as a place at a convenient distance from the capital. In present-day Nishi-Achi, Kurashiki City, stands Henjo-in Temple, said to have been founded during the Heian period, suggesting that the land area was gradually expanding.
The best-known event around Kurashiki in the late Heian period was the Battle of Fujito and the Battle of Mizushima during the Genpei War.
15th century
Even in the 15th century (the 1400s), the area around the Bikan Historical Area was still sea. However, sediment deposited by floods of the East Takahashi River—which no longer exists and flowed before the Takahashi River improvement works carried out from the Meiji through Taisho periods—gradually expanded the land across the area north of the Bikan Historical Area.
People seeking new places to live began settling on the newly formed land.
From a modern perspective, one might wonder, “Would people really want to live on new land by the sea?” Today, inland areas are more convenient and comfortable places to live, but until the Meiji period, the sea—not land—was the main route for transporting goods.
For this reason, people living in coastal towns and on islands prospered through trade. Water transport remained the main means of transportation until the Meiji period, when railways appeared, so it is important to look at the land from the sea, rather than at the sea from the land.
From this perspective, Kojima and Tsurajima in Kurashiki may have been prosperous areas.
Late 16th century
By the 16th century, alluvial land formed by sediment deposits had spread as far as the Bikan Historical Area.
Kurashiki’s land area later expanded dramatically through land reclamation, but the area around the Bikan Historical Area is alluvial land, not reclaimed land. (The place name Hamamachi in Kurashiki City is thought to be a remnant of the time when it was by the sea.)
*Present-day Shinden and Sasaoki in Kurashiki City, for example, are reclaimed land.
Because the Bikan Historical Area was close to the sea, it flourished as a port.
The town gradually took shape from the late 16th century. As it was a port, a market was first established in what is now Honmachi, and the town spread from there.
(Image courtesy of the Kurashiki City Historical Materials Preparation Office)
After the siege of Bitchu Matsuyama Castle by flooding, most of Bitchu Province was divided between the Mori and Ukita clans, and Kurashiki belonged to the Ukita clan.
Continued in “Part 2: The Edo Period.”
The full article can also be read on the feature page below.
Members of Konoma-chi Jikan Ryoko Club
- Akane Ohara
Sanraku Co., Ltd., Vice Chairperson - Hiroko Kadori
Director, Ohara House Katalyzer - Toshihiko Inagaki
Trim Design, First-Class Architect Office - Tamako Oga
Representative Director, Japanese Folk Toy Museum Co., Ltd. - Yuichi Akiba
Representative Director, Kurabiz Co., Ltd. - Mariko Takaishi
Kurashiki City Community Revitalization Cooperator - Kengo Toi
Representative Director, Haretoco General Incorporated Association
Advisors and article supervisors
- Taro Yamamoto
Chief, Historical Materials Preparation Office, General Affairs Division, General Affairs Department, Kurashiki City General Affairs Bureau - Noriyoshi Fujiwara
Curator, Kurashiki City Board of Education - Masanori Nishimura
Advisor, Kurashiki City Cultural and Industrial Affairs Bureau
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