Kurashiki Steals Your Heart

WHILE FERRY DE BAKKER MAY NOT HAVE SEEN ALL THERE IS TO SEE IN KURASHIKI, WHAT HE DID DISCOVER WAS INTERESTING AND IMPRESSIVE.

The modern city of Kurashiki was founded in the 1920s and today has some 500,000 inhabitants. It is located in the southern part of Japan’s main island Honshu, on the coast of the Inland Sea. The more recently built part is centred around the railway station. There are only a few notable buildings, and one of them is the original Kurashiki City Hall, built in 1960 and designed by Kenzo Tange. It is a brutalist structure worth seeing, particularly its main hall. In the early 1980s a new city hall was constructed elsewhere and this building was remodeled into a municipal art museum, together with the city’s library and the Kurashiki Museum of Natural History. Also interesting is the Kamoi Museum, which used to be a former masking tape factory and was transformed by TNA Architects into a very elegant museum.

COMFORTABLE RYOKANS

Kurashiki is better known for its historic Bikan area, where white warehouses, covered by roofs with black tiles were built in the 17th century, alongside a canal with weeping willows on both sides that give it a romantic feel. These warehouses have now been transformed into boutiques, restaurants and small, riveting galleries.

The area is a mere 15-minute walk from the central station and has many attractions. There are a few excellent ryokans, including the Ryori Roykan Tsurugata and the Ryokan Kurashiki. You will have a swell time in either of these. There are lots of hotels too, many very reasonably priced. There is much to experience in Kurashiki and you would do well by staying two, preferably three nights so as to be able to enjoy its many attractions.

UNIQUE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

Parallel to the canal is a very long shopping street. It seems to never end, as noteworthy

establishments keep on popping up. What makes this one so special is that it is a truly distinctive shopping street. No outlets of global brands are to be found here. What a relief to neither see those familiar fashion names and international coffee shops, nor to be confronted by cheap tourist outlets. Instead, everything is local, artisanal, different and of top-notch standard, as you might expect in Japan.

You will find a wide range of boutiques, galleries, small restaurants and cozy bars.

For me, the number one attraction is a small bookshop, choc-a-bloc with books. Most are obviously Japanese, but there are also many English and some French ones. Most of them are true gems, nicely designed, very artsy, often historic and well-illustrated. If you like books, you can easily spend an entire day here, as there is so much to see, to enjoy and to buy.

ORIGINAL, HANDMADE, AUTHENTIC FASHION

Kurashiki’s history as a traditional textile city shines through in its many denim-focused shops. Jeans are everywhere, locally made, fairly priced and of outstanding quality. Then there are the hats. Japanese men and especially women have a love affair with them. So, as is to be expected, you can also find quite a few attractive hat stores here. If you enter one, you are bound to walk out of there with a new hat.

Alas, one female store owner did not seem to be overly pleased when I wanted to take a photo of her shop window and her beautiful hats exhibited there. So, she rushed in and quickly put them away. Lovely too are the small boutiques, full of handmade dresses, blouses and handbags. Often, the ateliers are located just behind the shops, so you can watch the artists produce their original, handmade and, above all, splendid work. What a delight!

IT IS 1930. A MUSEUM OPENS ITS DOORS

The Ohara Museum of Art opened in 1930 and was put together by Mr Magosaburo Ohara, a successful local entrepreneur and philanthropist, who made his fortune in the textile business. The museum was the result of a friendship between him and the Japanese painter

Torajiro Kajima and created to commemorate this artist after his death in 1929.

Kajima was an impressionist who spent four years in Europe to develop his skills. He became a pupil of the Belgian artist Jean Delvin, who advised him not to imitate Western painters, but to focus on his Japanese identity. His body of work is imposing, and he did indeed manage to paint with a Japanese touch, but perhaps less so than the famous Léonard Tsuguharu Fujita.

THE ART OF COLLECTING MASTERPIECES

While in Europe, courtesy of his maecenas Ohara, Kajima also collected works of contemporary European painters for his friend and these, as well as many of Kajima’s own masterpieces, formed the core of the museum when it opened. Following this, the collection has been much expanded and today contains impressionist works of Monet, Pisarro, Degas, Corot and Cezanne.

Later, a vast collection of modern art was acquired, including important works by Picasso, Pollack, Miro, Rothko and Warhol. There is even more: sculptures by Moore and Rodin, for example, as well as Asian and Middle-eastern artifacts. It is dazzling and makes you wonder how much money Mr Ohara actually made from his textile business to be able to afford all of this.

MORE TO SEE

First of all, and since it is in the Bikan area, let us take a few minutes for a stroll to Ivy Square, a complex of brick buildings aptly covered in ivy. It used to be the site of Japan’s first modern cotton mill. Today, everything is different. There is a comfortable hotel there, as well as places to eat, a pottery shop and a gallery or two. The Kurabo Memorial Museum at Ivy Square shows the history of a spinning mill company. All in all, a really nice place to spend a few hours.

MOMOTARO

It is time to introduce Momotaro. This is a fictional character, who apparently came down from heaven inside a huge peach. In this wonderful folktale, Momotaro was adopted by an elderly, childless couple, who named him peach boy. Once he had grown up, he left home and when on the road, befriended a talking dog, a monkey and a pheasant. Together, this foursome fought and beat a band of demons. Motomaro lived in this area, and therefore what better place than Kurashiki to dedicate a museum to this youthful hero? And… a fun museum it is.

The list of places to visit and things to do is almost endless. I haven’t mentioned the Nozaki House yet. This is a salt history museum and more interesting than the name and subject might suggest. There are also three historic residences to visit as well as shrines and temples.

AN IMPRESSIVE BRIDGE

Outside the Bikan area, we have the impressive Seto Ohashi Bridge, which connects Honshu and Shikoku. It one of the world’s longest and worth driving on by car, or by train. On Shikoku, there is a nearby museum dedicated to this immense structure. Mount Washu is famous for its spectacular views of Kurashiki, the Seto Ohashi Bridge and the nearby islands. Not enough? Check out Trip Advisor, which lists 122 things to do in this wonderful town that is not yet overrun by foreign tourists.