Iwase Bunko Library

A Library Opened to the Public by a Local Merchant

The Iwase Bunko Library (岩瀬文庫, Iwase Bunko) in Kamezawa-cho, Nishio City, Aichi Prefecture, is a library founded by the wealthy local merchant Iwase Yasuke to open his book collection to the public; its Taisho-era book stack and former children's library were registered in 1999 as two Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the book stack to around 1919 and the children's library to around 1925, and records Nishio City as owner.

It is now run by Nishio City as the Iwase Bunko, a museum of old books.

The Book Stack and the Children's Library

According to the Agency, the book stack is a brick building of three storeys and a basement, with a well-composed exterior of brick accented with stone over and below the windows. Inside, timber posts carry three floors for the books.

The Iwase Bunko says it was designed by the Nishihara office of Nagoya, headed by Nishihara Kichijiro, formerly a prefectural architect, and faced with unglazed Tokoname tiles imitating header-bond brick. The shelves were made to measure for the books, left unboarded and set on slatted floors to keep out damp.

The Agency describes the children's library as a small single-storey Western-style timber building with clapboard walls, half-timbered gable decoration and tall sash windows.

Guarding the Collection

The Iwase Bunko notes that the collection was kept in the book stack for about eighty years, until December 2002, with books on the three upper floors and newspapers, magazines and items associated with the library and its founder in the basement.

Age and two major earthquakes took their toll, and in 2003 a new store was completed and all the books were moved. The book stack is now the symbol of the Iwase Bunko.

Visiting the Iwase Bunko

The Iwase Bunko is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The interior of the book stack is usually shown once a year during the Nishio Book Festival, but not this year.

Nishio City Library notes that the former children's library, now the Toy Museum, is currently closed to the public. Enquiries: Iwase Bunko, 0563-56-2459.