is a historic

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in western

Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

of 483,576 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

of 1,400 persons per km². The total area is 355.63 km².

History

The modern city of Kurashiki was founded on April 1, 1928. Previously, it was the site of clashes between the

Taira The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...

and

Minamoto was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

clans during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...

. It gradually developed as a

river port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers ...

. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, it became an area directly controlled by the

shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store goods. During the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

(Japan's

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

period), factories were built, including the Ohara Spinning Mill, which still stands as the nostalgic tourist attraction Ivy Square. On August 1, 2005, the town of

Mabi Mauby (in Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Grenada, Guyana, Bermuda, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and Anguilla), also known as ''maví (or mabí)'' in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, ''mabi'' in ...

(from Kibi District), and the town of Funao (from Asakuchi District) were merged with Kurashiki.

Geography

Climate

Kurashiki has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Kurashiki is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Kurashiki was on 8 August 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 27 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kurashiki in 2020 is 474,592 people. Kurashiki has been conducting censuses since 1960.

Attractions

Shimotsui-Seto Bridge who saw from Okayama Prefecture

Kurashiki is the home of Japan's first museum for

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

art, the

Ohara Museum of Art The in Kurashiki was the first collection of Western art to be permanently exhibited in Japan. The museum opened in 1930 and originally consisted almost entirely of French paintings and sculptures of the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection h ...

. Established in 1930 by

Magosaburō Ōhara was a Japanese businessman and philanthropist. He was born in Kurashiki, Okayama. He studied at Waseda University but left Waseda before graduation.　Later he became the most influential person in Kansai The or the , lies in the southern- ...

, it contains paintings by

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El ...

, Monet,

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primar ...

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fro ...

, and

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

. The collection also presents fine examples of Asian and contemporary art. The main building is designed in the style of

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism ...

. The old merchant quarter is called the Bikan historical area. It contains many fine examples of 17th century wooden warehouses (''kura'', 倉) painted white with traditional black tiles, along a canal framed with weeping willows and filled with '' koi''. The area has no electric poles in order to make it more closely resemble the look of the Meiji period. One of the city's former town halls was located in the Kurashiki Kan, a European style building constructed in 1917. In 1997 a theme park called ''Tivoli'' (after the park of the same name in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

) opened near Kurashiki Station. After ten years of operation it was closed in 2008, with a massive debt. The Great Seto Bridge connects the city to Sakaide in

Kagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020) and is the smallest prefecture by geographic area at . Kagawa Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the southwest and Tok ...

across the Inland Sea. Kenzo Tange, winner of the 1987

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

for architecture, designed the former Kurashiki City Hall in 1960.

Education

Colleges and universities

The city is home to several private universities and one public university. *

Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts is a private university in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan ...

Kurashiki Sakuyo University is a private university in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of J ...

* Kawasaki College of Allied Health Professions * Kurashiki City College (public) * Okayama College *

Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare is a private university in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of J ...

* Kawasaki Medical School * Kawasaki Medical University

Primary and secondary schools

The city has a North Korean school, .

Sports

Kurashiki has a variety of sports clubs, including former

Japan Football League The also known as simply the JFL is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership a ...

side Mitsubishi Mizushima. *

Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima FC are a Japanese Association football, football club based in Kurashiki, Okayama, Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Okayama. They play in the Chūgoku Soccer League. History The club was founded in 1946 to provide recreational activities in the war- ...

- Soccer *JX Nippon Oil & Energy Mizushima F.C. - Soccer *Kurashiki Oceans - Baseball *Kurashiki Peach Jacks - Baseball Kurashiki was also the place where current J. League sides

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team's home stadium is Noevir Stadium Kobe, in Hyōgo-ku, though some home matc ...

and Fagiano Okayama had their origins before moving.

Sister and friendship cities

Kurashiki maintains the following sister and friendship cities: *

Sankt Pölten Sankt Pölten (; Central Bavarian: ''St. Pödn''), mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 55,538 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020. St. Pölten ...

, Austria, September 29, 1957 *

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

, United States since May 28, 1972 *

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand, March 7, 1973 *

Zhenjiang Zhenjiang, alternately romanized as Chinkiang, is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, China. It lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze River near its intersection with the Grand Canal. It is opposite Yangzhou (to its north) a ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...

, China, November 18, 1997

Notable people

* Ahn Young-Hak, Japanese-born North Korean football midfielder * Umekichi Hiyama , Japanese female folk rhyme master belonging to the Rakugo Arts Association *

Senichi Hoshino was a Nippon Professional Baseball player and manager. In 2003, he led the Hanshin Tigers to their first Central League pennant in 18 years before retiring for health reasons. In 2007, he managed the Japan national baseball team, Japanese natio ...

, baseball player * Keitarou Izawa, a.k.a. Ichiyo Izawa, pianist, frontman of Appa, and former member of Tokyo Jihen * Mikio Kariyama, professional shogi player * Kibi no Makibi, scholar and noble during the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

, businessman and philanthropist * Yasuharu Ōyama,

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, '' chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and ''janggi''. ''Shōgi ...

player, the 15th Lifetime Meijin *

Daisuke Takahashi is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Daisuke can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *大輔, "big, assist" *大介, "big, mediate" *大祐, "big, bless" *大助, "big, help" *大典, "big, law/rule ...

, figure skater * Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, boxer *

Isamu Nagato was a Japanese actor from Kurashiki Okayama Prefecture. He was an actor who specialized in playing comical roles. He became popular for his role as Sakura Kyōjyurō in the ''Three Outlaw Samurai series''. Selected Filmography Films * ''Taiyō U ...

, actor * Makiko Ohmoto, voice actress *

Keiji Tanaka is a retired Japanese figure skater. He is the 2016 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, 2019 U.S. Classic champion, 2017 Winter Universiade silver medalist, 2011 World Junior silver medalist, and a two-time Japanese national silver medalist (2016, 2 ...

, figure skater *

Hisako Kanemoto , also known professionally as , is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is represented by Production Baobab. She released her first album ''Fantastic Voyage'' in 2014. Biography Kanemoto attended high school in Kamogata, Okayama, before en ...

, voice actress

References

External links

*
Kurashiki City Tourists official website

{{Authority control Cities in Okayama Prefecture