Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building

What Is the Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building?

The Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building (お茶の水女子大学附属幼稚園園舎) is a single-storey reinforced concrete kindergarten built in 1931 on the Ochanomizu University campus in Otsuka, Bunkyo City, Tokyo, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2008.

It covers 1,289 square meters and stretches in a long line east of the university's Main Building, facing a play garden on its east side. Unusually, the registration also covers the 3 sandpits in that garden, so the building and the place where the children play are treated as one.

The kindergarten itself opened on November 16, 1876, as the kindergarten attached to the Tokyo Women's Normal School in the Ochanomizu district, and its official website introduces it as the first kindergarten in Japan. Its building burned in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake; after a period in temporary quarters, the kindergarten's own history says it moved into the present building in Otsuka in December 1932. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the building to 1931, about a year earlier, and the available sources do not explain the gap between completion and first use.

Why the Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs registered the Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building as a work that "sets a model for design," describing it as a kindergarten of refined design.

The plan runs along a central corridor (Naka-roka) with nursery rooms and other spaces on both sides. Outside, the walls are Scratch tile above a Mannari granite dado, the same finishes used on the Main Building of the same years. Nothing was scaled down because the users were small children; the kindergarten shares one design language with the rest of the campus.

A major restoration was completed in March 2014. The kindergarten still uses the building every day for its children and for research on early childhood education, so it continues to serve the purpose it was built for.

What Makes the Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building Distinctive

The detail singled out in the Agency's description is the stained glass set into the entrances of the nursery rooms. The exterior matches the university buildings, but colored glass marks the doors the children pass through each day, a touch that belongs to a kindergarten.

Being single-storey, the building runs along the edge of the garden. The university describes the setting as a garden with plenty of ups and downs and a building with the warmth of wood. The sandpits included in the registration are a reminder that the outdoor play space was planned together with the building from the start.

Visiting the Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building

The Ochanomizu University Kindergarten Building is a working kindergarten and cannot be visited. The university prohibits any viewing or photography of its affiliated schools, buildings included, so even visitors admitted to the campus may not approach or photograph it.

The way to learn about the building and the kindergarten's history is through the History Museum in the Main Building, which has held a special exhibition on the kindergarten for an earlier anniversary. The year 2026 marks the kindergarten's 150th anniversary; check the History Museum's announcements for current exhibitions. Directions and campus entry conditions are on the Ochanomizu University page.