A Meiji Schoolhouse Moved Into a Merchant Town
The Former Kabaho Elementary School Building (旧樺穂小学校校舎, Kyū Kabaho Shōgakkō Kōsha) is a single-storey wooden schoolhouse at 351 Makabe, Makabe-cho, in Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, built in the middle of the Meiji era and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 9 June 2004 under register number 08-0133.
The plan is long and shallow, 8 Ken along the ridge by 3 across, with a floor area of 127 square metres. A Yosemune-zukuri hipped roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles slopes down on all 4 sides. Along the north face runs an open corridor half a ken wide, carried on posts with no doors or glazing to close it in. Slightly east of centre, the entrance porch where pupils changed their shoes pushes forward from the wall. Inside, the space was once divided down the middle into 2 rooms, which is to say 2 classrooms.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the building as a probable schoolhouse of the former village of Nagaoka. It was put up in mid-Meiji and moved to its present site during the Taishō era, so a classroom block standing among merchant storehouses is the result of that relocation rather than of the town's own school history. Kabaho Elementary School itself closed in March 2025 and merged with 3 other schools in the Makabe area to form Makabe Gakuen. The school name now survives on the building.
Why the Building Is Registered
The Former Kabaho Elementary School Building was registered under the criterion covering buildings that serve as a model of design. It is valued as an example of Meiji school architecture, and what makes it useful as an example is how little it does. There is no clock tower, no veranda, none of the pseudo-Western flourishes that photograph well at the famous Meiji schools of Nagano or Shizuoka. This is the plain standard type that a rural village built for itself, using carpenters and materials it already had.
Makabe began making systematic use of the registration system in 1999, and roughly 100 buildings in the town now carry the designation. Most of them are merchant shop-storehouses, earthen storehouses and gates, so a building that started life as a school sits slightly apart from the rest of the group. The townscape as a whole was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 2010.
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake hit Makabe harder than any other preservation district in Japan, damaging more than 90 percent of the traditional buildings here. That the streets around the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building can still be walked and read is the outcome of the repair work that followed.
What to Look at Outside the Kabaho Schoolhouse
Start with the wall. Horizontal boards lap over one another and are held down by thin vertical battens, a treatment called osaen Shitami-itabari. The battens run at even intervals, giving a long low wall a vertical beat. On a street of white plastered storehouses, the timber cladding reads differently under the hand and under the light.
Then walk round to the north side for the open corridor. Half a ken wide, roofed but unwalled, it brought daylight and circulation to the classrooms at once and was common in Meiji school planning. Read it together with the projecting porch and the daily routine becomes legible: shoes off at the porch, along the boards, into one of the 2 rooms.
The hipped roof has no gable ends, so the same slope meets you from every approach. The proportion of 8 ken by 3 explains itself once you think about orientation, with light taken from the south and the corridor pushed to the north. Parts were altered when the building was moved, but the silhouette is still that of a schoolhouse rather than a shop or a barn.
Visiting the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building
The building is privately owned and the interior is not open. Visitors look at the exterior from the road. There is no admission charge and no opening hours, because there is no visitor facility here. Please stay off the property, and if you photograph the building, do so from the public road and with some care for the people who live around it.
Sakuragawa City's walking map, Makabe o Arukō, numbers the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building as site 13. Starting from the Takajōmachi car park that the map suggests, a loop of the old town takes in shop-storehouses and doctor's gates and passes the schoolhouse on the way. Everything worth seeing is within walking distance, so one printed map is enough.
By public transport, take the JR Mito Line to Iwase Station and change to the Sakuragawa city bus, Yamazakura GO, for Makabe. The fare is a flat 200 yen per ride and IC cards such as Suica and PASMO are accepted. Coming from Tsukuba, transfer at Tsukubasan-guchi from the Tsuku-Bus northern shuttle; a transfer discount applies if you pay cash. Timetables are revised periodically, so check the city website before you set out.
From 4 February to 3 March each year the town holds the Makabe Hina Matsuri, when more than 100 houses and shops display doll sets and the lanes fill with visitors. It is a good time to walk, though the festival does not guarantee that any individual building will be opened to the public.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building, and can you go inside?
- You can view the exterior freely from the road at any time. The building is privately owned and the interior is not open to the public, so there is no ticket, no opening hours and no entry to the grounds.
- Where is the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building and how do you get there from the nearest station?
- It stands at 351 Makabe, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, inside the historic town of Makabe. Take the JR Mito Line to Iwase Station, then the Yamazakura GO city bus to Makabe. The bus fare is a flat 200 yen per ride.
- When was the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building built and why is it a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It dates from the middle of the Meiji era and was moved to its present site in the Taishō era. It was registered on 9 June 2004 as a model of design, and is treated as an example of ordinary Meiji school architecture.
- Is the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building still used as a school?
- No. It stopped serving as a schoolhouse long ago. Kabaho Elementary School, the school that gave the building its name, closed in March 2025 and was merged with 3 other schools in the Makabe area into Makabe Gakuen.
- What is the best time of year to see the Former Kabaho Elementary School Building?
- The exterior can be seen year round. The Makabe Hina Matsuri, from 4 February to 3 March, is the liveliest time to walk the town. Low winter afternoon light rakes across the board cladding and shows up the battens well.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kabaho Elementary School Building |
|---|---|
| Location | 351 Makabe, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 9 June 2004 (Heisei 16) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber structure, floor area 127 square metres, 8 ken by 3 ken |
| Owner | Private individual (as published by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education) |
| Public Access | Interior closed. Exterior viewable from the public road |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Former Kabaho Elementary School Building
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004119
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Kabaho Elementary School Building
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/195119
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties of Ibaraki: Former Kabaho Elementary School Building
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6307/
- Sakuragawa City: Makabe Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/education/bunkazai/city_bunkazai/kuni_bunkazai/page003423.html
- Sakuragawa City: Makabe o Arukō walking map
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/doc/1487569963_doc_23_1.pdf
- Sakuragawa City: Yamazakura GO city bus service
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/kurashi/koutsu/page005762.html
- Sakuragawa City: Makabe Hina Matsuri
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/tourism_guide/play/page002066.html
- Sakuragawa City Public Relations, 1 May 2025 issue: closing and opening ceremonies of Makabe area schools
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/doc/1746073541_doc_382_0.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.08