Former Akasaka Elementary and Higher Elementary School

Former Akasaka Elementary School Building: A Meiji-Era Schoolhouse Reborn

Tucked away on a gentle rise along Okayama Prefectural Route 27 in the rural town of Maya, the Former Akasaka Jinjō Kōtō Elementary School Building (旧赤坂尋常高等小学校校舎) is a graceful timber landmark that has lived two distinct lives. First raised in 1910 as a country schoolhouse where village children began their lessons, today it shelters another generation of curious young minds—this time as the private "Children's Library Hotaru." With its arched entrance, criss-crossed decorative bracing, and the unmistakable kikusui (chrysanthemum-on-water) relief perched on its roof, this Registered Tangible Cultural Property is one of Okayama's most evocative surviving examples of Meiji-era pseudo-Western school architecture.

Historical Background

The building was completed in 1910 (Meiji 43) far from its present location, in what is now the town of Kume-Nan in northern Okayama Prefecture. There it served as the main hall of Akasaka Jinjō Kōtō Elementary School, the regional school for the village of Satogata. In 1927 the institution was renamed Tanjōji Jinjō Kōtō Elementary School after the historic temple that had once loaned classroom space, and after the postwar education reforms it became today's Tanjōji Elementary School. For sixty years, the wooden hall echoed with the voices of children reciting their lessons.

The Architect and the "Egawa Style"

Egawa Saburohachi (1860–1939) was born in Aizu-Wakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture, the third son of a former Aizu domain samurai. After training as a temple carpenter, he became a building engineer for Fukushima Prefecture in 1887, where he worked on bridges and absorbed Western structural ideas from leading architects of the day, including Yamaguchi Hanroku, Tsumaki Yorinaka, and the school-building specialist Kuru Masamichi. In 1902 he transferred to Okayama Prefecture as its sole in-house building engineer, and over the next two decades he designed schools, courthouses, police stations, and assembly halls across the region.

His distinctive idiom became known locally as "Egawa-style architecture" (江川式建築). It blends Western pseudo-classical proportions with the carpentry traditions of his temple-craft training, and it is most easily recognized by the cross-braced "tasuki" motifs on its façades, the broad hipped roofs, and the so-called "Egawa-style truss"—a hybrid timber-and-Western roof framework that allowed unusually large interior spans without internal pillars. Other surviving Egawa works in Okayama include the Former Senkyō Elementary School (a National Important Cultural Property and a setting for the film Always: Sunset on Third Street) and the Former Kyokutō Kindergarten Hall.

Architectural Highlights

The building is a wooden two-story structure with a tile-roofed hipped roof and an attached single-story wing to its left side. Its building area is 268 square meters. Although modest in scale compared with Egawa's grandest works, it concentrates many of his most characteristic gestures into a remarkably balanced composition.

A Schoolhouse Reborn: Children's Library Hotaru

Since August 2, 2023, the upper floor of the building—where the old assembly hall once filled the entire second story—has hosted a private, non-circulating reading room called "Children's Library Hotaru" (子ども図書館ほたる). The library is operated by Keigakusha, a general incorporated association founded by Otsuki Junichiro, an Okayama entrepreneur who previously built ten libraries for children in rural Nepal.

Inside the roughly 200-square-meter hall, around three thousand carefully chosen books on art, design, craft, and adventure are arranged among hanging chairs, a cardboard dome, a tiny "secret base" hut of paper and branches, and large planted greenery. The atmosphere has been compared to a forest hideaway. Children may read anywhere they like, lying on cushions, swinging gently, or curling up in a corner—reading is free of charge, though books may not be borrowed. The library is open Wednesday through Saturday, eleven in the morning to four in the afternoon.

The exterior of the building can be admired at any time from the public road, and a side parking area allows visitors to pause and take in the kikusui roof relief and the arched entrance from a respectful distance.

Visitor Information and Access

The building stands in a quiet rural section of Akaiwa City, less than an hour by car from Okayama Station. The most convenient public-transport approach is the Uno Bus Mimasaka Line from Okayama, alighting at the "Mayashimo" stop. Drivers will find on-site parking. The site sits along Okayama Prefectural Route 27, and the building is visible from the road as you approach.

Please note that the building is not open for general interior tours; access to the upper floor is permitted only as part of a visit to Children's Library Hotaru during its open hours. The exterior, however, can be enjoyed from outside at any time of day. Visitors are kindly asked to respect the area, watch their footing on the gravel approach, and refrain from entering roped-off zones.

Things to See Nearby

The Maya area has several attractions worth combining with a visit. The ruins of Bizen Kokubun-ji—an eighth-century provincial temple commissioned by Emperor Shōmu—lie within easy walking or driving distance, and the surrounding countryside is dotted with kofun burial mounds. The neighborhood has also become a small destination for design-minded travelers, with the Japanese tea specialty café "To," housed in a renovated dental clinic, drawing visitors from across the prefecture.

A short drive will take you to the city of Bizen, home to Bizen ware kilns and the venerable Shizutani School, Japan's oldest surviving public school for commoners. Okayama City itself, with Okayama Castle and the Korakuen Garden (one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan), is approximately forty minutes away by car. Travelers interested in Egawa Saburohachi's wider work can also visit the Former Senkyō Elementary School in Maniwa, an Important Cultural Property and arguably his masterpiece.