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 Prefectures of Japan, 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 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

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 north ...

, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the

Inland Sea An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large and is either completely surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean by a river, strait, or "arm of the sea". An inland se ...

. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 483,576 and a population density 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 and Minamoto clans during the Heian period. 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 publ ...

. During the Edo period, 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 Kamakur ...

. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store goods. During the Meiji Restoration (Japan's Industrial Revolution 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 ...

(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 ''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 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 business community. Founded He founde ...

, 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 G ...

, 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 prima ...

, Gauguin, and Renoir. 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 was ...

. 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) 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 270px, Sakaide City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Sakaide city center is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,439 in 21347 households and a population density of and a population density of 530 p ...

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 Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grant (money ...

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 * Kawasaki College of Allied Health Professions *

Kurashiki City College is a public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ' ...

(public) *

Okayama College is a private junior college in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan. The junior college opened in April 1951 as a women's college. It became coeducational in 2000. See also * List of junior colleges in Japan This is the comprehensive list of junior co ...

* Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare * Kawasaki Medical School *

Kawasaki Medical University is a private university in Kurashiki, Japan, established in April 1970. History *1938 - Dr.Kawasaki Sukenobu established "Showa hospital" in Okayama *1950 - "Showa hospital" became "Kawasaki Hospital" *1952 - Established "Asahigawa sō"(welfare ...

Primary and secondary schools

The city has a North Korean school, .

Sports

Kurashiki has a variety of sports clubs, including former Japan Football League side Mitsubishi Mizushima. *

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

- 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 and

Fagiano Okayama is a Japanese football club based in Okayama, the capital of Okayama Prefecture. They play in the J2 League, the second tier of the country's football league system. Their home stadium is City Light Stadium, in Okayama City, though some home ma ...

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 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, United States since May 28, 1972 * Christchurch, New Zealand, March 7, 1973 * Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China, November 18, 1997

Notable people

Ahn Young-Hak An Yong-Hak (born 25 October 1978) is a Japanese-born North Korean football midfielder. He is a former member of the North Korea national football team. Club statistics ''Updated to 23 February 2016''.Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./� ...

, Japanese-born North Korean football midfielder * Umekichi Hiyama , Japanese female folk rhyme master belonging to the Rakugo Arts Association * Senichi Hoshino, baseball player * Keitarou Izawa, a.k.a. Ichiyo Izawa, pianist, frontman of

Appa Appa or APPA may refer to: Organizations *American Pet Products Association, an industry association in the United States * American Psychopathological Association, a scientific professional organization * American Philosophical Practitioners Ass ...

, and former member of Tokyo Jihen * Mikio Kariyama, professional shogi player * Kibi no Makibi, scholar and noble during the Nara period *

, 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, 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 ...

, actor *

Makiko Ohmoto is a freelance Japanese voice actress from Kurashiki, Okayama. She is best known for voicing Kirby in the eponymous game series and for voicing Ness from the ''EarthBound'' series in '' Super Smash Bros.''. Personal life On March 15, 2020, s ...

, 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, ...

, figure skater * Hisako Kanemoto, voice actress

References

External links

*
Kurashiki City Tourists official website

{{Authority control Cities in Okayama Prefecture