Okayama founded in 1889 has an estimated population of 720,841. The city is the site of Kōraku-en, known as one of the top three traditional gardens in Japan, and Okayama Castle, which is ranked among the best 100 Japanese castles. The city is famous as the setting of the Japanese fable "Momotarō".
MORNING
Korakuen is a beautiful landscape garden and Okayama's main attraction. Along with Kanazawa's Kenrokuen and Mito's Kairakuen, Korakuen is ranked as one of Japan's three best landscape gardens. It is located just beside Okayama Castle, which can be seen from the garden as "borrowed scenery".
The local feudal lord ordered the construction of Korakuen in 1687 as a place of entertainment for the ruling family and a location for receiving important guests. Occasionally, the public was permitted to enter the garden.
AFTERNOON
The Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki was the first collection of Western art to be permanently exhibited in Japan. The museum consisted almost entirely of French paintings and sculptures of the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection has now expanded to include paintings of the Italian Renaissance and of the Dutch and Flemish 17th century. Well-known American and Italian artists of the 20th century are also included in the collection.
In 1961 a wing was added for acquired Japanese paintings of the first half of the 20th century: Fujishima Takeji, Aoki Shigeru, Kishida Ryūsei, Koide Tarushige and others. In the same year, a wing for potteries of Kawai Kanjirō, Bernard Leach, Hamada Shōji, Tomimoto Kenkichi and others was opened. 1963 a wing was added for the woodcuts of Munakata Shikō and dyeings of Serisawa Keisuke. Today the last two wings are combined as Crafts Wing (Kōgei-kan). 1972 the Kojima Torajirō Memorial Hall was opened at the Ivory Square of Kurashiki.
The Ohashi family was foremost amongst the merchant class of Kurashiki, and this is the residence they built for themselves in 1796. The house is typical of the machiya (Japanese for "town house") of Kurashiki's wealthy merchants. There are tatami-floored rooms with elegant sliding doors and hanging scrolls for entertaining guests as well as private quarters, storage rooms and a kitchen.
In one striking difference with other machiya, the Ohashi Residence is not built directly on the road but has a front gate and an open area, which was an architectural style exclusive to samurai residences. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), a strict caste system separated the social classes, with the samurai at the top and the merchants at the bottom. That the Ohashi family was able to use architectural designs usually reserved for samurai, was indicative of their local importance.
Kurashiki is a city that seems like it has frozen in time. From 1600-1868, during the Edo period, Kurashiki was such an important merchant city that Shogunate directly controlled; even though it was almost 700 km away from the capital.
Kurashiki city now functions in two ways, there is the modern city of Kurashiki, which is everything you could want from a small city in Japan; and the Bikan District is like a living history of the Edo and Meiji periods.
During the 17th century, the area surrounding the city’s canal was made into a merchant’s quarter. During this time Kurashiki became very prosperous by trading sugar and rice with other cities. That prosperity created a lasting impact on the city, which has been voted the most picturesque town in Japan due to its beautiful natural scenery and architecture.
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