A Concrete Book Store Built to Match Its Older Twin
Along the northern edge of the campus stand two narrow towers side by side, both built to keep books safe from fire. The one to the west is the younger of the pair, finished in 1930 in reinforced concrete. It rises three stories on a compact footprint of 8.7 meters east to west and 9.6 meters north to south, capped by a flat roof, with a building area of 82 square meters. Its neighbor to the east, a brick structure of 1902, is older by nearly three decades, and the two were always meant to be read together.
The west store belonged to the Sixth Higher School, the national preparatory school that opened in Okayama in 1900 and sent its graduates on to the imperial universities. By 1930 the school's library had outgrown the single brick repository, and the answer was a second store built in the newer material of the age, concrete, but shaped to keep the company of the first.
Designed for Harmony, Not Contrast
What makes the west store worth a designation is the care taken to match it to its elder. Rather than announce its modern construction, it borrows the older building's vocabulary. It sits on a brick base like the east store. Each floor is marked by a projecting cornice, and the windows are set in tall rectangular runs that line up with the rhythm of the neighbor. Stand back and the two read almost as a single composition in two materials, the brick of 1902 and the concrete of 1930 brought into agreement.
This was a deliberate choice. The library could have built whatever was cheapest and most fireproof, and concrete certainly was both. That it was instead detailed to harmonize with a building already a generation old says something about how the school regarded its own early structures, and the two stores together carry the memory of the Sixth Higher School forward.
Why It Matters Now
The west store was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in January 2011, in the sixty-ninth round, under reference number 33-0237. The category recognizes modern buildings that shape the historic character of a place. It was registered alongside the east store, the judo hall, and the stone gate, the four surviving fragments of the original school.
Their survival owes much to material. When an air raid in June 1945 burned the timber classroom blocks of the Sixth Higher School, fireproof stores of concrete and brick were exactly the buildings most likely to come through. The school was absorbed into Okayama University in 1949 and the grounds passed to the present high school, but the two book towers still stand at the campus edge. Note that this is an active school; the stores are not open to visitors, though the registered gate and wall along the street can be seen from outside.
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Q&A
- What is the west store made of?
- It is built of reinforced concrete, three stories tall on a brick base, with a flat roof. It dates from 1930, the early Showa period.
- How does it relate to the east store?
- The two stand side by side on the campus's northern edge. The west store was designed to harmonize with the older east store through shared cornices, a brick base, and matching window runs, so the pair reads as one composition.
- Why build a second repository?
- By 1930 the school library had grown beyond the capacity of the single 1902 brick store, so a second fireproof store was added in the newer material of reinforced concrete.
- Is it open to the public?
- No. The book stores stand within an operating high school and are not open to visitors. The registered gate and stone wall facing the public street can be viewed from outside.
- How large is the building?
- It measures about 8.7 meters east to west and 9.6 meters north to south, with a building area of 82 square meters across three stories.
Basic Information
| Name | Okayama Prefectural Okayama Asahi High School (Former Sixth Higher School) West Book Store |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-200-2 Furukyomachi, Naka Ward, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), reg. no. 33-0237 |
| Registered | 26 January 2011 (69th round) |
| Built | 1930 (Showa 5) |
| Count and scale | 1 building; reinforced concrete, three stories, flat roof, floor area 82 m² |
| Owner | Okayama Prefecture |
| Access | Within an active high school; not open to the public |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Database of Designated Cultural Properties: Okayama Asahi High School (Former Sixth Higher School) West Book Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008569
- Sixth Higher School (old system), Wikipedia (Japanese)
- https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/第六高等学校_(旧制)
Last verified: 2026.06.25