Kurashiki City Museum of History and Folklore (former Kurashiki Kindergarten Building)

A Kindergarten with an Octagonal Hall

The Kurashiki City Museum of History and Folklore (former Kurashiki Kindergarten Building) (倉敷市歴史民俗資料館（旧倉敷幼稚園園舎）) is a Western-style kindergarten building with an octagonal wing of 1915 in Nishinakashinden, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on October 18, 2000 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building with tiled and partly copper roofs and a building area of 307 square metres, moved in 1981; registration number 33-0051.

An Octagonal Wing with a Radiating Ceiling

The Kurashiki City Museum of History and Folklore was built as the Kurashiki Kindergarten and now stands east of the city hall, a single-storey Western-style timber building (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Behind its east–west front wing is an octagonal wing whose ceiling is divided in radiating sections, giving a lively roofline.

The walls are plastered between exposed timbers above vertical and horizontal boarding, and a relief of cherry blossoms decorates the gable over the entrance (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes the varied roofline of this Western-style kindergarten with its octagonal wing, and registered it as a model of design.

What to Look For

Look for the radiating ceiling of the octagonal wing and the cherry-blossom relief over the entrance (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

It is owned by Kurashiki City and serves as the city's museum of history and folklore (Agency for Cultural Affairs). No official information on opening hours was found.