“Learning the History of the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area” is a summary by Haretoco General Incorporated Association Representative Director Toi Kengo, based on reports and slide materials presented by Taro Yamamoto of the Kurashiki City Historical Materials Development Office and Noriyoshi Fujiwara of the Kurashiki City Board of Education at a study session on the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area held in fiscal 2025 by the voluntary group Konomachi Time Travel Club, and informed by discussions among club members.
This article introduces “Part 3: The Meiji Period to the Present.”
For “Part 1: The Ice Age to the 16th Century” and “Part 2: The Edo Period,” see the articles below.
The information presented is current as of the article’s publication in August 2026. Please note that it may differ from current information.
The Meiji Period
(Image courtesy of the Ohara Art Foundation)
During the Edo period, Kurashiki flourished as a central town in the region, with the Kurashiki Magistrate’s Office established there, but it began to change with the Meiji Restoration.
After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Kurashiki Village became Kurashiki Prefecture, incorporating several areas into the shogunate-controlled territory previously administered by the Kurashiki Magistrate’s Office. Then, in 1871, Oda Prefecture (initially established as Fukatsu Prefecture) was formed by consolidating ten prefectures, including Kurashiki Prefecture, in Bitchu and Bingo Provinces.
The Oda Prefectural Office was located in what is now Kasaoka City.
As a result, Kurashiki, which had long been the “center of local government” since the Edo period, lost its status as a political center. Furthermore, after being merged into Okayama Prefecture in 1875, Kurashiki became “a rural village within Okayama Prefecture” and gradually declined.
Hitoshi Yamakawa, born in 1880, wrote, “When I was old enough to remember things, Kurashiki was still a village like an old pond with no water flowing through it.”
The Founding of Kurashiki Spinning
From around 1884 onward, young men in town began to take action, hoping to transform Kurashiki, which had become “a rural town in Okayama Prefecture.” Among them, Kimura Ritaro, Komatsubara Keitaro, and Ohashi Sawasaburo were known as the “Three Great Men of Kurashiki” and were involved in the later establishment of Kurashiki Spinning Mill.
Even in the Edo period, when moving or studying in a city was not as easy as it is today, wealthy people studied in Edo and Kyoto. The young men’s knowledge of the then-advanced “spinning industry” in the Meiji period is thought to have come from their studies in Tokyo. The fact that a certain number of people like them existed may also be evidence of Kurashiki’s prosperity during the Edo period.
They apparently had a strong sense that they were “going to the city to study on behalf of their town or village.” For this reason, sharing what they had learned with the local community and devoting themselves to the town came naturally to them, and they likely felt a strong sense of duty.
Since Kurashiki had been a cotton-growing area since the Edo period, and the Meiji government was promoting the modern spinning industry under its policy of encouraging industry, Kimura Ritaro, Komatsubara Keitaro, and Ohashi Sawasaburo went around persuading local influential figures to establish a spinning company.
With the support and investment of Ohara Koshiro, who became the company’s first president, many prefectural residents learned of the new business plan and responded enthusiastically, with numerous applications to subscribe for shares. Ohara Koshiro agreed to take up the shortfall, making the project viable. Thus, Kurashiki Spinning Mill was established in 1888 on the former site of the Kurashiki Magistrate’s Office.
Kurashiki Spinning Mill was a building that incorporated the latest technology from the West.
In the midst of a traditional townscape, and on the site of the former Kurashiki Magistrate’s Office, once the center of political power, the construction of a Western-style brick building may seem out of place by modern standards. However, at the time, Edo-period townscapes were commonplace. It is conceivable that people found greater joy in Westernization and modernization than in Edo-period townscapes and white walls.
The Taisho Period to the Early Showa Period
After that, the central figure in the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area changed to Ohara Magosaburo, who succeeded Ohara Koshiro as president of Kurashiki Spinning.
While developing Kurashiki Spinning into one of Japan’s leading spinning companies, Ohara Magosaburo also established and played an active role in organizations such as Daiichi Godo Bank (now Chugoku Bank) and Kurashiki Silk Textile Co., Ltd. (now Kuraray). He also supported numerous social initiatives and arts and cultural activities, establishing institutions such as the Ohara Museum of Art, Kurabo Central Hospital (now Kurashiki Central Hospital), the Ohara Institute for Agricultural Research (now the Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University), the Ohara Institute for Social Research (now the Ohara Institute for Social Research, Hosei University), and the Kurashiki Institute of Labor Science (now the Ohara Memorial Institute for Science of Labour).
Around this time, Kurashiki began to take pride in being a “tenryo” (shogunate-controlled territory), and people came to identify with Kurashiki as “the town of tenryo.”
It was also around this time that Kurashiki began promoting its status as a tenryo, as in the phrase “Kurashiki, the town of tenryo,” which is often heard today as a tourism slogan.
The book Guide to Kurashiki City, published by the Kurashiki City Office in 1928 (Showa 3), contains the following passage:
“It has continued to develop in a distinctive way as ‘Tenryo Kurashiki.’”
More than 50 years had passed since the Meiji Restoration, and this may have been a time when the period under direct shogunate rule was beginning to be romanticized. The town of Kurashiki itself began to use the keyword “tenryo.”
Encounter with Mingei
Around this time, an important encounter took place that would later lead to townscape preservation efforts: the encounter between Ohara Magosaburo and mingei.
The word “mingei” is an abbreviation of “folk crafts” and was coined by Yanagi Muneyoshi. Yanagi believed that objects used in everyday life possess a beauty rooted in their purpose, which he called “beauty in use,” and launched the mingei movement together with Kawai Kanjiro, Hamada Shoji, Tomimoto Kenkichi, and others.
After meeting Yanagi Muneyoshi, Ohara Magosaburo supported the mingei movement, including providing full support for the establishment of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, and worked to share the appeal of local crafts with many people. As a result, key figures in the mingei movement began gathering frequently in Kurashiki.
From the Postwar Period to the Present
Ohara Magosaburo died in 1943, shortly before the end of the war, and the Ohara family’s businesses, including its cultural enterprises, were passed on to his eldest son, Soichiro.
Ohara Soichiro joined Kurashiki Rayon in 1932 and toured several European countries from 1936 to 1938. It is often said that he was impressed by the preservation of the townscape in Rothenburg, Germany, which he visited during this trip, and that he went on to preserve Kurashiki’s townscape. However, no clear record remains that he stopped in Rothenburg.
The only record is the account of Urabe Shizutaro, a former classmate from middle and high school and a maintenance engineer at Kurashiki Rayon, who said that after returning to Japan, Soichiro told him, “Let’s make Kurashiki the Rothenburg of Japan.”
There is no doubt that Ohara Soichiro was passionate about preserving townscapes, as well as about culture and the arts. However, he seems to have taken the position of supporting such activities rather than taking the lead himself.
One piece of evidence for this is his involvement with the folkcraft movement. Influenced in part by his father, Magosaburo, he had connections with people involved in the movement. In 1946, soon after the war, he invited folk textile artist Tonomura Kichinosuke to Kurashiki at the recommendation of Yanagi Muneyoshi. The aim was to ask Tonomura to teach weaving techniques to members of the Women’s Volunteer Corps who had been unable to return to Okinawa even after the war ended.
(Image courtesy of the Kurashiki City Historical Materials Preservation Office)
(Image courtesy of the Kurashiki City Historical Materials Preservation Office)
Later, in 1948, the Kurashiki Museum of Folkcraft was established as Japan’s second folkcraft museum. It made use of a rice storehouse belonging to the Ohara family and was the first example of the restoration of an old house in Kurashiki. In today’s terms, it could also be called a “renovated facility.” The idea of “making use of what already exists” is one of the principles of folkcraft advocated by Yanagi Muneyoshi, and both Ohara Soichiro and Tonomura Kichinosuke are thought to have been mindful of it.
The Establishment of the Kurashiki City Beautification Association and Townscape Preservation Activities
(Collection of the Kurashiki Museum of Folkcraft)
Then, in 1949, the Kurashiki City Beautification Association was established. It was the first townscape preservation organization in Japan formed by local residents, founded by local community leaders including Tonomura Kichinosuke. It is true that support for preserving townscapes was growing at the time, but this was not “the consensus of the residents.” Japan was beginning its period of rapid economic growth, when tearing down old things and building new ones was considered the norm.
Even so, the decision to “preserve” was likely made because key figures such as Tonomura Kichinosuke encouraged the effort. In this sense, Tonomura played a major role in Kurashiki’s townscape preservation activities. In the early years of the Kurashiki City Beautification Association, a piece titled “Traditional Houses as Cultural Properties,” published by Fujishima Gaijiro in the January 1952 issue of Cultural Properties Monthly, also reportedly provided strong encouragement.
The Kurashiki City Beautification Association always respected Ohara Magosaburo and his son Soichiro for laying the foundations for townscape preservation. In later years, however, it seems to have questioned the “story of townscape preservation centered on the Ohara family” that others had created. Ohara Soichiro was not unrelated to the townscape preservation activities, but there is no record of his deep involvement either. Since he often acted in ways that supported and aligned with the activities rather than opposing them, perhaps he gave them a kind of “seal of approval.”
In fact, many buildings in the Bikan Historical Area were later designed by Urabe Shizutaro, a maintenance engineer at Kuraray. At the time, however, people seem to have thought, “Mr. Ohara is doing something new.” As is still the case today, architects who designed new buildings did not attract much attention then, either. It is only in recent years that Urabe Shizutaro’s name has come to be highlighted as an architect.
(Image courtesy of the Kurashiki City Historical Materials Preservation Office)
As calls grew for rules to ensure the continued preservation of the historic townscape protected through resident-led efforts, Kurashiki City enacted the Kurashiki City Traditional Beauty Preservation Ordinance in 1968 (Showa 43), with the government supporting residents’ activities. It came into effect in 1969. This initiative was later adopted as a national system, and in 1978 the area was designated a National Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.
In this way, the preservation of the townscape in the Bikan Historical Area gained a legal basis and has continued to the present day.
However, residents’ activities have continued even after the legal basis was established. This is because, although the area has become more strongly associated with tourism, the Bikan Historical Area is still a living town where residents, not just business owners, make their homes. The presence of residents also brings challenges in daily life.
The principles and activities of the Kurashiki City Beautification Association, established in 1949, have now been carried on by the Association for the Preservation and Development of Kurashiki’s Traditional Buildings District. It continues its work to foster a safe and secure town and townscape and pass them on to the next generation.
(Image courtesy of the Kurashiki City Historical Materials Preservation Office)
The full article can also be read on the feature page below.
Members of the This Town Time Travel Club
- Ohara Akane
Sanraku Co., Ltd., Executive Vice President - Kadokari Hiroko
Director, Ohara House Katalyzer - Inagaki Toshihiko
Trim Design, First-Class Architect Office - Oga Tamako
President, Japanese Folk Toy Museum Co., Ltd. - Akiba Yuichi
President, Kurabiz Co., Ltd. - Takaishi Mariko
Kurashiki City Community Revitalization Cooperator - Toi Kengo
Representative Director, Haretoco General Incorporated Association
Advisors and Article Supervisors
- Yamamoto Taro
Chief, Historical Materials Preservation Office, General Affairs Division, General Affairs Department, General Affairs Bureau, Kurashiki City - Fujiwara Noriyoshi
Curator, Kurashiki City Board of Education - Nishimura Masanori
Senior Advisor, Kurashiki City Cultural and Industrial Affairs Bureau
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
Enter a word to search articles on this site
