Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area, Okayama

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Kurashiki City is located in the southern part of Okayama Prefecture. It has flourished as a port city with a long history of water transportation. Merchants who have fallen out of control of the Tokugawa Shogunate and have become self-governed and become wealthy will set up a luxurious warehouse on the banks of the Kurashiki River. That is the photogenic spot “Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area”. The scene of the white wall, “Namako-kabe walls”, weeping willow, and the water surface of the digging is unique to Kurashiki.
There are plenty of places to enjoy, from Japan’s first private modern Western art museum to shops that renovated townhouses and white walled warehouses. Introducing the area around the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area, a town where you can enjoy a retro townscape with the atmosphere of the Kurashiki River.
For those who want to see the cityscape of the white wall from the boat, it is recommended to enjoy the atmosphere on the “Kurashiki River Boat Down”. The river departs from a platform near the Nakabashi Bridge over the Kurashiki River. While listening to the history of the town by the boatman, the tour takes about 20 minutes between Takasagobabshi Bridge near Denim Street and Imabashi Bridge near Ohara Museum of Art.

In addition, boarding tickets are sold only on the day and are often full on weekends, so if you want to ride, please purchase a ticket first when you arrive in the Bikan District.
The Ohara family was one of the great merchants who supported modern Kurashiki. The former “Ohara House” was designated as a national important cultural property. The main building, which was built in the late Edo period, is a valuable building that conveys the unique tradition of Kurashiki. In particular, the windows and lattices on the first floor are called “Kurashiki Window” and “Kurashiki Lattice” respectively. Since you can feel the wealth of Kurashiki merchants, this is the first place you want to visit when you visit the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area.
A building like a greek temple, opposite the old Ohara family residence. This is the Ohara Museum of Art, established in 1930 by Ohara Magozaburo. It is said to be the first museum in Japan that deals with Western painting and modern art.
“Annunciation” of El Greco, “Water-Lilies” of Monet, Renoir’s women’s paintings, as well as paintings by famous masters such as Cézanne, Gauguin, Picasso, Rodin, Utrillo and other degas. It is said that “It is a miracle to be in Japan”.
Kurashiki Ivy Square is a complex tourist facility where you can stay overnight. It was built in the former site where the Kurashiki spinning factory was once. In addition to the hotel, there are workshops and souvenir shops where you can experience pottery and painting, as well as a restaurant and bar with a classic atmosphere.
Access to Kurashiki is convenient from Okayama Station. Okayama Station is about 50 minutes from Shin-Osaka on the Shinkansen (Nozomi / Sakura), about 1 hour and 40 minutes from Nagoya, and about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Hakata, and is easily accessible from the Kansai and Kyushu areas.
Also, from Okayama Station, it takes about 17 minutes by conventional line to reach Kurashiki Station, so after sightseeing around Okayama Station, you might consider a sightseeing plan that goes to Kurashiki by train. Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area, the center of sightseeing in Kurashiki, is about a 10-minute walk from Kurashiki Station, and the road is flat so you don’t have to worry about getting lost.
Kurashiki area where you can immerse yourself in a time-slip feeling. Many sightseeing spots can be visited on foot, so it is also recommended for people who cannot drive or who are not good at driving.
In addition to this, there are many other highlights such as “Kurashiki Hanpu” (Kurashiki sailcloth), masking tape, and a shop where you can buy domestic denim. Please enjoy the historical scenic beauty area.

The brand from Kurashiki has increased in popularity

Okayama, also known as “sunny country”, is known as a castle town, a key hub of transportation, a fruit production area. This place is also famous as a tourist destination, among them “Kurashiki Bikan Chiku” (Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area) is especially popular. Shops dealing with the Kurashiki brand such as “Kurashiki Hanpu” (Kurashiki sailcloth) and denim, and cafe of the town house blend into the atmosphere, and if you stroll through the beautiful area, you can enjoy nice landscapes and gems.
Okayama, blessed with a mild climate is widely known as a fruit production center. It is also known as the birthplace of Kibi culture, prospered as a key hub of traffic to Shikoku area and Chugoku area.

Okayama is also popular as a tourist destination, especially in Kurashiki located in the southern part of the prefecture and the Seto Inland Sea coast, many people are from Japan and abroad. Even inside Kurashiki city, “Kurashiki beautiful sight area” where elegant buildings with white walls and roof tiles are impressive are particularly popular. It is well known nationwide as a tourist attraction for a long time. Beautiful canal and rows of willow trees, the white house’s mansions and warehouses, and the streets where the town houses lined up are quite emotional. This is the spot to visit first if you are going to sightsee in Okayama.
In recent years, the brand from Kurashiki has increased in popularity, and attention is gaining again in traditional handicrafts such as “Kurashiki Glass”. In “Kurashiki Beautiful District”, unique and attractive shops dealing with such traditional handicrafts and Kurashiki brand products are erected and showcasing with many people.
In addition, they are eating places such as a cafe and a restaurant made by refurbishing the warehouse and town houses built in the Taisho period from the Edo period. Every store cherishes “beauty” rooted in Kurashiki, while preserving old buildings well. Also, the arrangement of the interior has been devised, and it embodies the way of comfortable “living”, and it is restricting a lot of coming people.

The beautiful sight area

It’s less than 10 minutes walk from Kurashiki-eki Station south exit. It is downtown as you might say that it is the center of Kurashiki. There is another world if you step into this beautiful sight area from main street.

It is called “the Kurashiki Bikan Chiku” (Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area) that is area storing scenery and a building by the regulations of Kurashiki-city.

Prospered as a shipping place of rice in the Edo era

This area used to be the place that prospered as a shipping place of rice in the Edo era, which is reminiscent of the past from storehouses. There are the cultural facilities including the Ohara art museum storing a global masterpiece, the folk handicraft museum, the archaeology museum and the Japan toy museum.

The Scenery of Kurashiki

The facilities like warehouses, inns, stores and museums stand in rows on both sides of the Kurashiki River flowing through in front of the Ohara art museum, and they make so-called “the Scenery of Kurashiki”.

The beauty of the traditional Japanese building

The white walls and “Namako-kabe walls” (covered with square tiles jointed with raised plaster) shows beautiful contrast, and the rows of willow trees rustling in the wind casts a shadow over the Kurashiki River, those scenery leave beauty of the traditional Japanese building well.

Information(Access, Price/Charge, Tel, Address, Official site, etc.)

Name:	Kurashiki Bikan Chiku (Kurashiki beautiful sight area)
Adresse:	Kurashiki-city, Okayama 710-0000 Japan
Access:	JR Sanyo-honsen line "Kurashiki-eki Station” (10 minutes walk)
Tel:	(+81) 86-424-1220 (Kurashiki Tourist Information Office)
Price/Charge:	Free
Official site:	http://www.kurashiki-tabi.jp/