Former Amakusa Education Hall

A Western-Style Hall Built with Teachers' Contributions

The Former Amakusa Education Hall (旧天草教育会館, Kyu Amakusa Kyoiku Kaikan) is an early Showa Western-style education hall in Funanoo-machi, Amakusa City, Kumamoto Prefecture, whose main building and main gate and wall were registered in 2006 as two Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates both to 1934 and records Amakusa City as owner. Amakusa City and the Amakusa Culture Exchange Hall give the completion of the main building as 20 March 1935.

The exchange hall explains that it was paid for with 12,000 yen contributed over two and a half years by more than 800 members of the Amakusa branch of the Kumamoto Education Association, and 4,000 yen given by supporters in the towns and villages.

The Main Building, Gate and Wall

According to the Agency, the main building faces north in the northwest of the site. It is a two-storey timber building ten bays by seven, gabled and pantiled, with stair towers on the east and west. The ground floor is clapboarded and the upper floor rendered. Its flat-roofed entrance porch, sliding windows with transoms and a round window on the east wall are distinctive. It has a building area of 271 square metres.

The gate and wall share their design with the bases of the porch columns, giving a unified appearance.

The exchange hall notes that the large upstairs hall has no internal columns, and that details such as the ceiling rose and the plasterwork above the blackboard retain early Showa Western design. The Amakusa tourism association credits the design and construction to Chihara Mangoro, a native of Amakusa (former Hondo City).

Use as the Amakusa Culture Exchange Hall

Amakusa City describes it as a leading Western-style building of Amakusa, now in use as the Amakusa Culture Exchange Hall.

The tourism association says it serves as a place for learning and exchange to hand down traditional crafts, with workshops in Amakusa temari balls, oshie padded pictures, clay dolls and Baramon kites.

Visiting the Former Amakusa Education Hall

According to the tourism association, the exchange hall is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on Mondays (open on holidays), the day after holidays and from 29 December to 3 January. There is parking for 50 cars.

It is about 25 minutes by car from Amakusa Airport. Enquiries: Amakusa Culture Exchange Hall, 0969-27-5665.