| Kurashiki 倉敷 |
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| — Core city — | |||
| 倉敷市 · Kurashiki | |||
| Bikan district of Kurashiki | |||
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| Location of Kurashiki in Okayama | |||
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Kurashiki
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Japan | ||
| Region | Chūgoku | ||
| Prefecture | Okayama | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Kaori Itō | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 354.71 km2 (137 sq mi) | ||
| Population (April 2010) | |||
| • Total | 473,392 | ||
| • Density | 1,330/km2 (3,444.7/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) | ||
| City symbols | |||
| - Tree | Camphor | ||
| - Flower | Wysteria | ||
| - Bird | Kingfisher | ||
| Phone number | 086-426-3030 | ||
| Address | 640 Nishinakashinden, Kurashiki-shi, Okayama-ken 710-8565 |
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| Website | City of Kurashiki | ||
Kurashiki (倉敷市 Kurashiki-shi) is a historic city located to the west of Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea.
As of April 2010, the city has a population of 473,392. The total area is 354.71 square kilometers (136.95 sq mi).
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The modern city of Kurashiki was founded on April 1, 1928. Previously, it was the site of clashes between the Heike and Genji clans during the Heian period. It gradually developed as a riverport; during the Edo period, it became an area directly controlled by the Shogunate. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store goods. During the Meiji Restoration (Japan's Industrial Revolution period), factories were built, including the Ohara Spinning Mill which still stands as the nostalgic tourist attraction Ivy Square.[1]
On August 1, 2005, the town of Mabi, from Kibi District, and the town of Funao, from Asakuchi District, were merged with Kurashiki.
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 the area 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 1998 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.
The city is home to several private universities and one public university.
Kurashiki maintains the following Sister/Friendship Cities.[2]
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