Moopon

The Ohara Museum of Art was Japan's first museum of Western art. It is a private museum consisting of three adjacent buildings next to the canal and a separate building located in Ivy Square.

The Main Gallery building was constructed when the museum was founded, and features most of the museum's highlights. On display are masterpieces of Western art by Picasso, El Greco, Gauguin, Modigliani, Rodin, Klee, Pollock and Kandinsky among others. The artists in the collection span a wide variety of periods and nationalities.

it features a number of works by Japanese artists, and includes both oil paintings and sculptures. The Craft Art Gallery displays ceramics, woodblock prints, stencil dyeing, and other crafts. The Asiatic Art Gallery includes artifacts from Egypt and antiques from China.

The final building, the Kojima Museum, is located a five minute walk away in Ivy Square and is included in the admission fee. It is a gallery for Kojima Torajiro, a Japanese artist who painted in the Western style.

The main buildings of the Ohara Museum are located at the northern end of Kurashiki's historic canal area. The Kojima Museum is located about 200 meters away from the other buildings, just across the canal within Ivy Square.                                                     

Hours: 9:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Mondays (unless Monday is a national holiday), December 26 to 31
Admission: 1300 yen (includes entrance to the Kojima Museum)
English audio guide available free of charge

The Ohashi family, a wealthy family among the merchants of Kurashiki, built the Ohashi House in 1796.  The house is a typical Kurashiki townhouse or machiya.  The house has the atmosphere of a wealthy merchant’s house with its elegant sliding doors and hanging scrolls in the tatami mat rooms.  In addition, there are separate private rooms, storage rooms and a kitchen.

There is a noticeable difference between the Ohashi House and other machiya. The Ohashi House is not built directly on the road.  There is a front gate and an open space area.  During the Edo Period (1603-1867), this architectural style was exclusive to the samurai residence.  The caste system dictated the samurais at the top of social scale with the merchants at the bottom.  The Ohashi House incorporating the architectural style reserved for samurais reflected the family’s local importance.
 
Location and Access Information:
From the northern end of the canal area, it was a few minutes by foot.  It is opposite side of the Motomachi-dori, main road.
From the station, go south on the main road (Motomachi-dori).  Turn right at the second set of the traffic lights.  Visitors can find the Ohashi House on their left, about 1 minute away.

Ivy Square is a complex of brick buildings covered in ivy.

This building houses cafes, shops, exhibition spaces, museums and a hotel. .

This is quite a pretty and interesting place to wander around.

The area was the site of the first modern cotton mill in Japan, and the brick buildings were originally built as part of the mill in 1889.

During the Edo Period (1603-1867), before the construction of the mill, the site was used as the office of the local magistrate, who exercised control of the city as a direct representative of the shogunate.

In building Japan's first modern cotton mill, the Kurashiki Bosekijo (Kurashiki spinning mill) company, also known as Kurabo, reaped the profits of introducing new industrial techniques to the country.

The company is still active today in the textile and various other industries.

Kurabo has built a memorial hall in one of the former cotton warehouses which traces the company's history to the present day.

A number of other museums are located within and around Ivy Square.


 

This samurai residence was built about 170 years ago. Visitors can view the main building, where some lifesize dolls are arranged to reenact daily life during the Edo Period. The gardens may also be viewed from the house.

Takahashi developed at the base of Matsuyama Castle into a thriving castle town of samurai, merchants and craftsmen. Some of the historic streets close to the castle have been preserved, and a few samurai and merchant houses have been restored and opened to the public. There are also temples and a few museums around town that display the local history and culture.

Note that a convenient, discounted combination ticket is available that provides tourists with admission to the castle, Raikyuji Temple, the two samurai residences and the Takahashi Historical Museum for 900 yen. Orii Samurai Residence
Hours: 9:00 to 17:00 
Closed: December 29 to January 3 
Admission: 400 yen (half for children)