The folk craft movement sparked the preservation of historic streetscapes
When did streetscape preservation along the Kurashiki River begin?
Shibuya (honorific omitted)
Specific streetscape preservation measures began to be implemented in the 1960s (1965–1974). However, there had already been calls to preserve Kurashiki’s streetscape.
Kurashiki had long been an area where the folk craft movement was active.
As the folk craft movement continued, the idea that the historic streetscape remaining around the Kurashiki River should be preserved is thought to have emerged.
The folk craft movement is based on the idea that “beauty lies in practical tools used in everyday life.”
Perhaps this idea resonated with the historic streetscape along the Kurashiki River, which is rooted in local life, culture, and the natural environment.
After the war, cultural figures began actively calling for the preservation of Kurashiki’s streetscape.
They included businessman Ohara Soichiro, who established the Kurashiki Museum of Folkcraft, and textile artist Tonomura Kichinosuke, one of the central figures in Kurashiki’s folk craft movement.
In Europe and elsewhere overseas, historic buildings were being incorporated into urban development, and Ohara seems to have been influenced by this.
It is said that he advocated the need to preserve the streetscape with the aim of making the area along the Kurashiki River like Rothenburg, Germany.
Tonomura and others also established the Kurashiki Urban Beauty Association and continued to advocate widely for the preservation of Kurashiki’s streetscape.
Government efforts to preserve streetscapes began in the 1960s
I’d like to know how full-scale streetscape preservation got started.
Shibuya
The desire of local volunteers to preserve the streetscape eventually moved local residents as well, and calls for preservation grew louder.
Ohara was a major local landowner and an influential figure. Tonomura and other cultural figures were rooted in the local community, creating works in Kurashiki based on the ideas of the folk craft movement.
Local residents sympathized with them, and calls to preserve the streetscape spread. Eventually, those calls reached the government, leading to preservation efforts led by the government and residents.
At a time when Japan had no system for preserving streetscapes, Kurashiki City created its own ordinances and plans.
In 1968, Kurashiki City promulgated the Kurashiki City Traditional Beauty Preservation Ordinance, covering approximately 20.7 hectares around the Kurashiki River and Honmachi. The following year, in 1969, it announced the Kurashiki City Traditional Beauty Preservation Plan.
This led to the designation of the Kurashiki River Bikan Historical Area, the Kurashiki River Special Bikan Historical Area, and the Kurashiki River Preservation Monuments. This area was designated the Traditional Beauty Preservation District.
Within the district, a rule was established requiring notification whenever the exterior of a building was to be altered. This marked the beginning of full-scale efforts to preserve the streetscape along the Kurashiki River.
In 1975, the system for the preservation of Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings was established. At last, the national system had caught up.
In response, Kurashiki City enacted the Kurashiki City Ordinance on the Preservation of Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 1978. Construction work could no longer begin until an application had been submitted and permission obtained for any exterior alterations. A system of subsidies was also established for cases that met the requirements.
In 1979, 13.5 hectares of the Bikan Historical Area designated by the city were selected as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (expanded to 15 hectares in 1998).
In 1990, recognizing the importance of the scenery visible from along the Kurashiki River, the city enacted the Kurashiki City Ordinance for the Preservation of the Surrounding Environment of the Kurashiki River Traditional Buildings Preservation District to protect the scenery in the surrounding area. This was one of the first such efforts in Japan.
In 2000, it was revised as the Landscape Ordinance based on the Building Standards Act, and in 2005 as the Kurashiki City Bikan Historical Area Landscape Ordinance based on the Landscape Act.
The system for protecting the landscape became more robust.
Kurashiki City has worked to preserve the area by revising or establishing ordinances and systems to suit changing circumstances. These efforts have preserved and maintained the streetscape along the Kurashiki River, attracting and captivating many visitors.
The area along the Kurashiki River received the Urban Landscape Award’s “Beautiful Streetscape Grand Prize” in 2010 and the Asia Townscape Award’s “Grand Prize” in 2012.
Furthermore, in 2017, it became one of the constituent cultural properties of the Japan Heritage story, “A Kurashiki story beginning with a single cotton flower: A textile town woven from Japanese and Western influences.”
This may be one of the results of the city and its residents working together over many years to preserve the streetscape.
Kurashiki is one of the pioneering areas in streetscape preservation
Were efforts to preserve the streetscape along the Kurashiki River among the earliest in Japan?
Shibuya
It can be said that preservation of the streetscape along the Kurashiki River began early by national standards.
What is important is the concept of “streetscape preservation.” Efforts to preserve individual buildings had long been underway in places such as Kyoto and Nara.
What was groundbreaking in postwar Kurashiki was that preservation focused not on individual buildings, but on groups of buildings—the streetscape as a whole.
The idea was to define an area and preserve the historic buildings within it. In other words, it was preservation across an entire area, rather than preservation of individual “points.”
Only a few places in Japan, including Kurashiki and Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, recognized early on the importance of preserving groups of buildings.
Moreover, efforts to preserve the streetscapes of Kurashiki and Kanazawa began before the national system for Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings was established in 1975.
Kurashiki can be considered one of the pioneering areas in streetscape preservation.
The 1960s coincided with a period of rapid economic growth. Urban development was underway across the country, and historic buildings were being lost.
After Kurashiki and Kanazawa, efforts to preserve streetscapes began in many other areas, including Takayama in Gifu Prefecture, Tsumago in Nagano Prefecture, Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Matsue and Tsuwano in Shimane Prefecture, and Kyoto.
All of these areas are now tourist destinations with historic streetscapes, attracting many visitors from Japan and abroad. I believe Kurashiki’s efforts to preserve its streetscape were highly significant for Japan.
Following the nationwide movement, the national system of Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings was established. It is said that the Ministry of Education at the time used Kurashiki, Takayama, and Hagi as model districts when establishing the system.
Another very important point is that streetscape preservation in Kurashiki was not led by the government: calls for preservation arose from the private sector and prompted government action.
For a detailed timeline of streetscape preservation efforts, see below.
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