A Frontage 101 Metres Long
School Building of the Yokohama Junior High School Attached to the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, Yokohama National University (former main building of Yokohama Higher Technical School) is a school building of 1938 at 2-31-3 Ooka, Minami-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, listed on 4 December 2000 as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. It is reinforced concrete over three storeys with a floor area of 1,800 square metres, and the university records its frontage as 101 metres.
It was built as the main building of Yokohama Higher Technical School, the forerunner of the university's Faculty of Science and Engineering. When the engineering faculty moved to the Tokiwadai campus, the interior was remodelled, and since 1981 the building has served as the premises of the attached junior high school. Nearly ninety years old, it is still a school in daily use.
Why It Was Listed
The Agency for Cultural Affairs places the building among the last reinforced concrete school buildings put up before the war at institutions under the direct control of the Ministry of Education. It belongs to the final generation of that type, raised just before wartime controls tightened on materials.
Registration applies to structures generally more than fifty years old that contribute to the historic landscape of the country. It works through notification rather than permits and differs from the designation system; this building is registered, not designated.
The registered name includes the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences. That faculty has since been reorganised, and the school is now the Junior High School Attached to the Faculty of Education, Yokohama National University. The heritage register keeps the faculty name as it stood at the time of listing.
A Renaissance Plan with a Modernist Face
Two idioms meet in this building. The massing is Renaissance in manner, with wings projecting forward from either end of the block to frame a shallow forecourt, a form long used for government offices and schools.
The treatment of the elevation, though, leans modernist. Sills and lintels are run together to stress the horizontal, and a band of tall narrow windows rises through the centre of the front. Rather than piling up ornament, the design organises the wall by the direction of its lines, and the national record sums this up as modernist detailing.
A classical plan carrying an elevation of its own decade: 1938 sat on the hinge between the two, and one building shows it. The exterior tiling was replaced in 2008.
Visiting
This is the premises of a national junior high school where classes are held every day. It is not a visitor site, there are no opening hours or admission fee, and no official source publishes any arrangement for public viewing.
The grounds cannot be entered, so what can be seen is the exterior from the road. The 101-metre frontage gives a fair sense of the scale even from outside. Since this is where pupils come to school, anyone photographing the building should keep clear of school life.
The address is 2-31-3 Ooka, Minami-ku, Yokohama City. Enquiries on other matters go to the Junior High School Attached to the Faculty of Education, Yokohama National University, on 045-742-2281.
Q&A
- When was the building put up?
- In 1938, as the main building of Yokohama Higher Technical School. It has served the attached junior high school since 1981.
- What earned it a place on the register?
- It is among the last prewar reinforced concrete school buildings at institutions under the direct control of the Ministry of Education, and it combines a Renaissance massing with modernist detailing.
- How large is it?
- Reinforced concrete over three storeys, with a floor area of 1,800 square metres. The university gives the frontage as 101 metres.
- Can I visit?
- It is a working national junior high school and not open to the public. No official source describes any arrangement for viewing, and the building can only be seen from the road.
- What is the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences in the registered name?
- It was the faculty's name when the building was listed. After reorganisation the school is now attached to the Faculty of Education, Yokohama National University.
Basic Information
| Name | School Building of the Yokohama Junior High School Attached to the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences, Yokohama National University (former main building of Yokohama Higher Technical School) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-31-3 Ooka, Minami-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2000/12/04 (Heisei 12) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Floor area 1,800 square metres |
| Owner | Yokohama National University |
| Public Access | Working school building; not open to the public |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002021
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Main Building of Yokohama Higher Technical School
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/139291
- Yokohama National University Facilities Department: Cultural Properties of the University
- https://shisetsu.ynu.ac.jp/gakugai/shisetsu/2campus/bunkazai/yuukei/bunkazai_yokochu.html
- Junior High School Attached to the Faculty of Education, Yokohama National University: Learning Environment
- https://yokochu.ynu.ac.jp/learningenvironment/
Last verified: 2026.09.19