Kurashiki

[edit] The Kurashiki area is part of ancient Bitchū Province and near the center of the ancient Kingdom of Kibi. Records of human settlements date back to the Japanese Paleolithic period, more than 20,000 years ago, and the city has numerous National Historic Sites from Jōmon period shell middens, Yayoi period settlement remains, Kofun period burial mounds and Nara period temple ruins. From the Heian period, the estuary of the Takahashi River was a port, and the surrounding area was the setting for numerous battles. During the Edo Period, the area had a complicated administration, with portions held by various feudal domains. The old town of Kurashiki and its port were held directly by the Tokugawa shogunate as tenryō territory and were a collection point for the annual rice taxes. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store goods. The Kurashiki magistrate's office recognized the autonomy of the merchants. It gave preferential treatment to them, increasing the population as well as increasing kokudaka, and local industries included cotton cloth weaving and salt production. Following the Meiji restoration, the village of Kurashiki was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on June 1, 1889. It was raised to town status on April 1, 1891, and to city status on April 1, 1928. On August 1, 2005, the town of Mabi (from Kibi District), and the town of Funao (from Asakuchi District) were merged with Kurashiki. In 2002, Kurashiki was designated a Core city with increased local autonomy.

[edit] Kurashiki has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 43 members. Kurashiki contributes 14 members to the Okayama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Okayama 4th district and Okayama 5th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

[edit] Kurashiki is the second largest city in Okayama, and has a mixed economy based on commerce, agriculture, and heavy industry. The Mizushima Rinkai Industrial Area, which spans the Mizushima and Tamashima areas, has factories centered on petrochemicals, steel, automobiles, and shipbuilding, and is one of Japan's leading industrial complexes.

[edit] Colleges and universities[edit] The city is home to several private universities and one public university. Kawasaki College of Allied Health Professions Kawasaki Medical School Kawasaki Medical University Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare Kurashiki City College (public) Kurashiki Sakuyo University Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts Okayama College Primary and secondary schools[edit] Kurashiki has 62 public elementary schools, 26 public junior high schools, and five public high schools operated by the city government. There are ten public high schools operated by the Okayama Prefectural Board of Education, and one combined middle/high school. In addition, there are four private high schools. The prefecture also operates three special education schools for disabled students. The city has a North Korean school, Okayama Korean Elementary and Junior High School (岡山朝鮮初中級学校).

[edit] Railway[edit] JR West (JR West) - San'yō Shinkansen Shin-Kurashiki JR West (JR West) - San'yō Main Line Nakashō - Kurashiki - Nishiachi - Shin-Kurashiki JR West (JR West) - Hakubi Line Kurashiki Mizushima Rinkai Railway - Mizushima Main Line Kurashiki-shi - Kyūjōmae - Nishitomii - Fukui - Urada - Yayoi - Sakae - Tokiwa - Mizushima - Mitsubishi-jikō-mae Ibara Railway Company - Ibara Line Kawabejuku - Kibinomakibi - Bitchū-Kurese Highways[edit] San'yō Expressway Seto-Chūō Expressway National Route 2 National Route 429 National Route 430 National Route 486

[edit] Kurashiki maintains the following sister cities: Sankt Pölten, Austria, September 29, 1957 Kansas City, Missouri, United States since May 28, 1972 Christchurch, New Zealand, March 7, 1973 Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China, November 18, 1997

[edit] 19th-century warehouses in the Bikan district of Kurashiki Kurashiki Canal Area Kurashiki is the home of Japan's first museum for Western art, the Ohara Museum of Art. Established in 1930 by Magosaburō Ōhara, it contains paintings by El Greco, Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, and Renoir. The collection also presents fine examples of Asian and contemporary art. The main building is designed in the style of Neoclassicism. The old merchant quarter is called the Bikan historical area. It contains many fine examples of 17th-century wooden warehouses (kura, 倉) painted white with traditional black tiles, along a canal framed with weeping willows and filled with koi. The area has no electric poles in order to make it more closely resemble the look of the Meiji period. One of the city's former town halls was located in the Kurashiki Kan, a European-style building constructed in 1917. In 1997, a theme park called Tivoli (after the park of the same name in Copenhagen) opened near Kurashiki Station. After ten years of operation, it was closed in 2008, with a massive debt. The Great Seto Bridge connects the city to Sakaide in Kagawa Prefecture across the Inland Sea. Kenzo Tange, winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture, designed the former Kurashiki City Hall in 1960. National Historic Sites[edit] Tatetsuki Site, Yayoi period ruins Yata Ōtsuka Kofun, Kofun period tumulus

[edit] Kurashiki has a variety of sports clubs, including a former Japan Football League side Mitsubishi Mizushima. JX Nippon Oil & Energy Mizushima F.C. - Soccer Kurashiki Oceans - Baseball Kurashiki Peach Jacks - Baseball Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima FC - Soccer Kurashiki was also the place where the current J. League sides Vissel Kobe and Fagiano Okayama had their origins before moving.

[edit] Umekichi Hiyama, Japanese female folk rhyme master belonging to the Rakugo Arts Association Senichi Hoshino, baseball player Keitarou Izawa, a.k.a. Ichiyo Izawa, pianist, frontman of Appa, and former member of Tokyo Jihen Hisako Kanemoto, voice actress Mikio Kariyama, professional shogi player Kibi no Makibi, scholar and noble during the Nara period Megumi, actress Takashi Nagase, member of Kempeitai during WWII who worked towards reconciliation after the war Isamu Nagato, actor Magosaburō Ōhara, businessman and philanthropist Makiko Ohmoto, voice actress Yasuharu Ōyama, shogi player, the 15th Lifetime Meijin Daisuke Takahashi, figure skater Keiji Tanaka, figure skater Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, boxer Ahn Young-Hak, Japanese-born North Korean football midfielder