A Meiji Brick Tower Built to Outlast Fire
At the northern edge of the campus, paired with a younger concrete neighbor, stands a compact brick tower from 1902. It is the elder of the two book stores that served the Sixth Higher School, and after the stone gate it is the second-oldest registered structure on the grounds. The school had opened only two years earlier, in 1900, as a national preparatory higher school whose graduates went on to the imperial universities, and this store was among the buildings raised to equip it.
The tower measures 9.3 meters along its main axis and 7.4 meters across, rising three stories under a gabled roof of clay pantiles. Its building area is a modest 68 square meters. Brick walls sit on a brick foundation, and the roof above is framed as a Western truss. The whole thing was built to be solid: a strongbox for paper in an age when fire was the constant enemy of any library.
The Details of a Fireproof Store
Look closely and the east store reveals the logic of its purpose. The brick is finished in mortar, and three lines of cornice run around the building at each floor level, giving the plain tower a measured, banded rhythm. The windows are placed at even intervals and fitted with iron grilles, a defense against both intrusion and the spread of flame. These are the marks of a building designed less for daily comfort than for the long protection of its contents.
When the concrete west store was added in 1930, its designers deliberately echoed this older building, matching its cornices and window rhythm and setting it on a similar brick base. The east store, in other words, set the pattern that its younger twin was made to follow. Repairs in the early and mid Showa decades and again in 1985 kept the brickwork sound without altering its character.
Why It Survives, and What It Stands For
The east store was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property in January 2011, in the sixty-ninth round, under reference number 33-0236. The designation marks modern buildings that contribute to the historic landscape, and it was granted together with the west store, the judo hall, and the stone gate, the four pieces of the original Sixth Higher School that remain.
That it remains at all is bound up with how it was built. In June 1945 an air raid destroyed the school's wooden classroom blocks and dormitories. A brick store made to resist fire was, by its nature, among the structures most likely to come through, and it did. The school merged into Okayama University in 1949 and the site became the present high school, yet this Meiji brick tower still keeps its place at the campus edge. Because the campus belongs to an active school, the store cannot be visited; the registered gate and stone wall along the public road, however, are open to view from outside.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Okayama Prefectural Okayama Asahi High School (formerly the
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Q&A
- How old is the east store?
- It was built in 1902, the thirty-fifth year of Meiji, making it the older of the two book stores and the second-oldest registered structure on the campus after the 1900 gate.
- What is it built of?
- It is a three-story brick tower with a mortar finish, set on a brick foundation, roofed in clay pantiles over a Western timber truss.
- Why are there iron grilles on the windows?
- The grilles, set in evenly spaced windows, helped secure the collection and limit the spread of fire, in keeping with the building's role as a fireproof book store.
- How does it relate to the west store?
- The two stand side by side. The later concrete west store of 1930 was designed to harmonize with this older brick one, matching its cornices and window arrangement, so the east store set the pattern for the pair.
- Can it be visited?
- No. It stands within an operating high school and is not open to the public. The registered gate and stone wall facing the street can be seen from outside the grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Okayama Prefectural Okayama Asahi High School (Former Sixth Higher School) East Book Store |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-200-2 Furukyomachi, Naka Ward, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), reg. no. 33-0236 |
| Registered | 26 January 2011 (69th round) |
| Built | 1902 (Meiji 35); repaired in the early and mid Showa periods and in 1985 |
| Count and scale | 1 building; brick, three stories, pantile gabled roof, floor area 68 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) East Book Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008568
- 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