Historical Monument Spots in Okayama Area

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Okayama
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Category

Travel / Tourism

History / Culture / Tour

Historical Monument

Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Pref. Kurashikishi Chuou - Hon, Higashi-Achi

The Bikan Historical Quarter in Kurashiki City is an area established based on landscape ordinance. Strictly speaking, it was selected as one of Japan’s “Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings”, “a preservation district for the group of traditional building in Kurashiki Riverbank in Kurashiki City” and the “Traditional Aesthetic Preservation District” which was established by ordinance of Kurashiki City. The “Kurashiki Riverbank” with its rows of willows which line Kurashiki River and the white earthen-walled warehouses are representative of the Bikan district. There are also cultural facilities and sightseeing spots standing side by side including Ohara Museum of Art.
Special Historic Site Former Shizutani School

4.5

107 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Bizen Shizutani 784

Former Shizutani School is a Historic Structure designated as a Special Historic Site. It was built in 1670 by the local feudal lord, Ikeda Mitsumasa, and it is the oldest remaining public school building in the world. In addition to the lecture hall, which has been designated a National Treasure, and in 2015, Japan Heritage designed it as No. 1 in the category Group of Remnants of Early Modern Japan’s Educational Heritage.

The school is located in Bizen City which is in the eastern part of Okayama Prefecture. During the Edo era the Ikeda Family was the feudal lord of Bizen. Shizutani Gakkou was established in 1670 in...
The Ohashis’ House

4.0

103 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Pref. Kurashikishi Achi 3-21-31

This building has the architecture of a merchant’s house and is located in Kurashiki City. The Ohashi family were large land-owners who made their fortune developing fields for drying salt and fields for growing rice in the late Edo period. The house has a Nagaya-mon gate which faces the street, while the main house is arranged with features such as having a front garden which is separated by a gate. The house was designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1978.

We saw the signage along the road and followed it to Ohashi House. This old historical house is preserved for all to see, for a small entry fee. Explore the gardens and interior. It is beautifully...
Former Nozaki Family Residence

4.0

46 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Pref. Kurashikishi Kojimajino 1-11-19

This historical monument is located in the Kojima Ajino 1 Chome area of Kurashiki City. One of the houses of Nozaki Buzaemon who built his fortune in the salt-making industry in the late Edo period (1603–1868), it is a designated prefectural historic site. On the approximately 10,000 square meter premises, there are also the nationally-designated important cultural properties “Former Nozaki Family Residence” and several “dozo-gun” storehouses. In addition, it also exhibits materials as the “Nozaki Family Residence Salt Experience Museum.”

This is amazing - not just the scale but natural beauty of buildings / gardens. The owner had a vision and created an ancestral home- Downton Abbey Japan - style; even can see how the servants worked...
Hirokane Residence

4.0

40 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Pref. Takahashishi Nariwachounakano 2710

"A 55-minute drive from the Kayo Interchange on the Okayama Expressway. This building was the residence of the Hirokane family, whose members served as the village heads of Onoro and amassed a vast fortune around 1800. The residence' stone walls were built at the end of the Edo period, their majesty a match for the romon-zukuri style residence. The residence was made famous nationwide when it was twice used as a shooting location for filming different versions of ""Village of Eight Gravestone"" in 1977 and 1996. Here visitors can experience the residence' luxurious, movie-like atmosphere and learn about the history of the estate and the Hirokane family, who prospered thanks to the Koizumi Copper Mine and the production of melanterite (a component used to make ferric oxide pigment)."

辺鄙な場所にあるせいか観光客が誰もいませんでした。こちらは映画「八つ墓村」のロケ地。そういう先入観があるせいか、何ともいえない因習深い湿った感じが横溝作品にぴったりな印象を受けました。屋敷は広く、厩舎もありました。大きな庄屋であったことが窺えます。水を流すと涼し気な音が鳴る筒があり、柄杓が置いてあり自由に水を流すことが出来ます。そこだけが爽やかな感じでした。
Former Senkyo Jinjo Elementary School

4.0

28 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Pref. Maniwashi Nabeya 17-1

Former Senkyo Jinjo Elementary School is a historic building located along the Izumo Highway in Nabeya in the city of Maniwa. This wooden school building, constructed in 1907, has been designated a National Important Cultural Property as a representative example of school construction in the later Meiji period (1868–1912). Nowadays, it is open to the public as a facility of the cultural facility Kuse Espace Land, but it is also used as a location for filmmaking. There is also an event called Former Senkyo Jinjo Elementary School Nostalgic School Lunch.

I went here recently with a couple of friends. Its an interesting building--more than a hundred years old--that for most of its life was an elementary school. It has also been the set for a number...
Joto's Old Townhouses

4.0

20 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Tsuyama-shi Higashishinmachi 40

A 10-minute drive from the Tsuyama Interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. A townhouse from the late Edo period townhouses located in the Joto Townscape Preservation District. This is the former residence of the Kajimura family who as the Fudamoto (present day banks) issued the Hansatsu script (Currency that could oldy be used within the domain) on order of the Tsuyama Domain. With the main building having been built during the late Edo period, the west-side room during the Meiji period, the western-style two-story building to the north during the Taisho period, and the storehouse during the early Showa period, how lifestyles changed with the ages is well preserved with the residence. The house is a registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan and the garden is a Registered Monument of Japan. There is no charge to tour the house.

The township of Tsuyama in the feudal area was composed of three districts. The samurai residence area on the west (Jousai district) the merchant area in the south where area names such as...
Okayama Kinshu Kaikan

3.5

17 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Okayama-shi Kita-ku Marunouchi 1-1-15

This wooden, western-style building was built in 1923. It was originally built as a temperance center, to help rehabilitate those whose lives had been damaged by alcohol. It was used in a variety of temperance related activities. Despite its wooden structure, it survived the bombing of Okayama, and is now a registered Cultural Property with the Agency for Cultural Affairs. The first floor is a religious bookstore and a retro cafe. The second floor and third floor hold rental offices and meeting rooms.

There is a retro building beside Nishite Yagura scaffold. This used to be an office of anti-smoking movement. It was built in Taisho Time, about 100 years ago. Now it is a coffee shop.
Sakushu Castle East Mansion

3.5

15 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Tsuyama-shi Nakanocho 19

A 10-minute drive from Tsuyama Interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. This free to access service area is a restored Edo period townhouse with eye-catching classic white walls and a fire lookout tower. Built in 1993 the original townhouse on this site was used for educational services in roles including a primary school, the Okayama Prefectural Tsuyama Handicraft Vocational School, a secondary school, and a preschool. It's a two-story wood constructed building with plastered Namako patterned walls, latticed windows, and a roasted cedar exterior. The interior reproduces the elegance of an Edo period townhouse. Behind the house is the Danjiri Exhibition Hall in which four Danjiri portable shrines that have been designated Cultural Properties of the Prefecture are displayed.

駐車場と建物の北側に数台のだんじりが展示してあります。凝った彫刻で立派です。建物自体は広い畳敷きの立派なもので、ふすまがきれいです。
Old Samurai Manor

3.5

14 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Maniwa-shi Katsuyama 651

This gallery is about a 10-minute walk from JR Chugoku-Katsuyama Station. It uses the well-preserved manor of Watanabe Tobe, a retainer who served Miura Akitsugu. This upper class warrior's home has been here for some 200 years, and is also known as Watanabe-tei. Beyond the Nagayamon gate you'll find the main hall and earthen-walled warehouses. In 1986, the warehouses were renovated to repair deterioration with age and now one is used as a gallery. It displays armor, clothing, old documents, and other materials related to the samurai family.

勝山に残る唯一の武家屋敷。このあたりの高台は武家屋敷のあったところで、渡辺家は家老の次の位の家柄とのこと。家柄を反映して、門構えが立派です。入館料200円で邸内見学させていただきました。門構えや玄関、客間が最も広くて立派につくってあり、家族が暮らす座敷などは奥の方。部屋と部屋の間に廊下などはない。体面を重んじる武士の家らしいつくり。
Former Residence of Mitsukuri Genpo

3.5

13 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Tsuyama-shi Nishishinmachi 6

A 10-minute drive from the Tsuyama Interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. The former home of late Edo period Western Scholar Mitsukuri Genpo where he lived until age 13, located within the Joto Townscape Historical Preservation District along the former Izumo Highway. In 1976 the main building, kitchen, courtyard, and water wall were faithfully restored to how they would have been during the late Edo-period and the house was designated a National Historic Site as a prime example of Edo-period form. The house and grounds are free to enter and Mitsukuri's family tree is on display in the storehouse.

平日だったためか、津山観光センターに車を置くことができ（駐車無料）、重要伝統的建物群保存地区の津山市城東地区へ徒歩で向かった。ここと隣の「津山洋学資料館」はセットで訪問されることをお勧めする。当方は箕作を「みつくり」と読むことも知らなかった。西洋医学を日本に伝えた重要人物がここ津山にいたとは。まさか「美作」の字源？この旧家も無料で開放されており、庭も含め大変端正に手入れがなされていた。訪問者に...
Old Inukai Family Residence

4.0

8 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Okayama-shi Kita-ku Kawairi 102-1

This private home building is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property, and is found along the Sanyo Shinkansen tracks about two kilometers north of JR Niwase Station. This was the birthplace of Tsuyoshi Inukai (also known as Bokudo , his pseudonym), a politician active from the Meiji into the early Showa period. The building is believed to date from the mid-Edo period, and is particularly valuable as a well-preserved village-headman's manor. Inside, it holds displays of items, pictures, letters and more related to Inukai. The joists lain across the ceiling in the earthen floor area, and the appearance of the main house still radiate the stately dignity of an official's home. The Inukai Bokudo Memorial Museum is next door, offering even more education about this man once called God of the Constitution.

「話せばわかる」の犬養毅の生家です。歴史を感じさせる建物に多数の書物が展示されています。岡山駅、庭瀬駅からも近いのに、入場無料は驚き。読み物が多いので、たっぷりと時間のある時に行くべき施設だと思います。
Ashimori Townscape

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Okayama-shi Kita-ku Ashimori

This area overflows with history in the center of Ashimori, in Okayama City's Kita-ku district, and is called the Ashimori City Scape Preservation District. It is centered on Ashimori-rekishifureai-dori avenue, and is lined with many Kurazukuri warehouse-style buildings. The original lord of Ashimori Domain was Kinoshita Iesada, older brother to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's wife Nene, and this town retains the old castle town atmosphere it had at its height back then. It differs from the similar Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter's luxurious merchant houses in that Ashimori was a residential district for commoners, and has a much more down to earth atmosphere. Nearby you can find the scenery like the prefecturally designated Places of Scenic Beauty Omizuen garden and Ashimori Historical Garden, historical spots like the birthplace of Ogata Koan, and much more to see.
Old Ashimori Domain Samurai Manor

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Okayama-shi Kita-ku Ashimori 752

This was the residence of the Sugihara family, chief retainer family of the Ashimori domain, and is highly valuable as it retains almost all of the original structure. Located facing Honmachi-dori Street, in the north section of the Ashimori City Scape Preservation District, it stands out for its white walls and Namako (white grid on black slate) earthen-walled nagayamon gate. The main hall has a beam line about 24.5 meters long and an inter-beam span of about 9 meters, and is a single-story building with a thatched hip roof. The small garden, centered around a spring-fed pond in the Enshu style, and tea house are reconstructions, but help to recreate the atmosphere of when the house was lived-in.
Ishibiya-cho Furusato Village

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Takahashi-shi Ishibiyacho

This old castle town is about a 15-minute walk from JR Bitchu-Takahashi Station. It spreads out at the foot of Mt. Gagyu, one of Okayama's 100 Famous Mountains. It flourished as a samurai town, and there is a stretch of some 250 meters of road lined with old samurai residences, earning this a designation as an Okayama Prefecture Furusato Village, or old home village. Both sides of the lane are lined with while earth-walled Nagayamon gate style townhouses, with plain but still noble samurai-residence designs retaining their old shape. Some of the residences are open to the public, like the Old Orii Manor or Old Haibara Manor, and recreate the lifestyles of these old noble families.
Takahashi Samurai Manor - Old Haibara Home

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Takahashi-shi Ishibiyacho 27

This old Takahashi City samurai residence is about a 15-minute walk from JR Bitchu-Takahashi Station. It sits in one corner of Ishibiya-cho Furusato Village. They say main house was built in the mid- to late-Edo period, and is decorated in a temple-like style with sukiya-zukuri architectural elements in a rare mixture. This house belonged to a samurai with an income of 120 to 150 koku (an old measurement of wealth based on rice measurement), who worked as an attendant or clerk. It is a designated Takahashi City Important Cultural Property. The first floor of the detached building holds a museum room displaying materials related to Yamada Hokoku, who served the Bitchu Matsuyama Domain in the end of Edo period.
Yakage Honjin Former Ishii Residence

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Oda-gun Yakagecho Yakage 3079

This nationally registered Important Cultural Property and historical building is about a 10-minute walk from Yakage Station on the Ibara Railway. It is the Honjin that was the center for post station town Yakage, and it has more than 3,000 square meters of land. A Honjin in the Edo period was a lodging facility used by Daimyo feudal lords and other public officers when they passed through on the way to or from the capital, and the building still retains its former glory today. The Ishii family once prospered as sake brewers, and their back gate and sakagura brewery building date back to the Mid-Edo period. The double-door gate of honor and raised floor room, and the elegantly designed transom of the lord's room were all apparently rebuilt in the late Edo period, but for the most part all the many buildings remain as they were without renovation.
Josai Romance Hall

3.5

5 Reviews

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Tsuyama-shi Tamachi 122

A 10-minute drive from the Innosho Interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. This registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan was built in 1917. This two-story wood construction European style building features a dome on the top of the front of the building as well as intricately detailed windows and roof and was the former main building of the Nakajima Hospital. Each room features a fireplace made with different styles of marble. On the first floor you'll find the Youan Coffee cafe where you can enjoy a cup of coffee surrounded by the nostalgic romantic atmosphere of the Taisho period. There's a rental gallery available on the second floor.

We visited the Jousai Rouman-kan on the western side of the castle. According to its website, the Rouman-kan is the former main building of Nakajima Hospital next to it. The western style two story...
Seibyo (Sacred Hall Which is Dedicatio to Confucius)

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Bizen Shizutani 784

A five-minute drive from JR Yoshinaga Station. A mausoleum dedicated to Confucius, father of Confucianism, located on the site of the former Shizutani School that was founded by the Okayama Domain during the early Edo period. As the most important facility it is located in the center at the highest point and a gilt bronze statue of Confucius is enshrined in the Taiseiden main hall. Every October they hold the Sekisai Ceremony to honor the virtues of Confucius. To the left and right of the stone staircase leading to the temple are a pair of Chinese Pistache trees called the Trees of Learning. In early November the leaves on the trees change color with the left tree's leaves turning scarlet and the right tree's leaves turning a yellow-tinged pink.
Miyamoto Musashi Childhood Home

Travel / Tourism

Okayama Mimasaka-shi Miyamoto 946

A five-minute drive from the Ohara Interchange or a 10-minute walk from the Miyamoto-Musashi Station on the Chizu Express. This historical site is located just across the road from the Miyamoto Musashi Rest Area, close to the Musashi Museum, and it is the birthplace of the Miyamoto Musashi, the famous sword-saint from the early Edo period. To the side is a monument marking the location of Miyamoto Musashi's birth. The original building that Musashi was born in 1584 has since disappeared and the current building was rebuilt with tiled roof in 1942. The original house sported a thatched roof and it's located the near the shrine, so they believed that it had been Miyamoto's residence. The residence can only be viewed from the exterior.

Okayama

Okayama City / Around Korakuen Kurashiki Tamano Around Bizen and Ushimado Kibiji Takahashi / Fukiya Hiruzen Highland / Tsuyama / Mimasaka Three Hot Springs Ibara / Kasaoka

Travel / Tourism History / Culture / Tour Historical Monument

Okayama Areas

Overshadowed by Hiroshima to the west and the Kansai region to the east, Okayama is an easy spot to miss but a nature-rich gem where the Seto Inland Sea laps at its toes and peach and grape farms complete its interior. One of Japan’s Three Great Gardens, Koraku-en in Okayama city is well worth a visit before progressing to Kurashiki, where preserved wooden Edo buildings line the picturesque canal.