Shufuan at Kangien in Hita

Shufuan

Shufuan was built in 1781 as a residence by Hirose Gekka, a haiku poet and member of the wealthy, local merchant family of Hirose.

In the early 10th century it became part of a private academy started by his nephew, Hirose Tanso.

The school grew and was named Kangien, kangi means "everything is fine"

By the time it closed in 1897, about 5,000 students from all over Japan had passed through the school, making it the private school of the period.

Kangien was also known for accepting students from all classes, not just samurai, and possibly even some females. Another school of the time famous for accepting all classes of student is the Shizutani School in Okayama.

Shufuan is one of two buildings from the school that are still remaining. Both are free to enter and explore.. The other building, Tanso's favorite study Enshiro, I will post next.

Shufuan is unusual in having a usable second floor. Also at the site is a small museum about Hirose Tanso and Kangien. Everything is free to enter.

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The Original 24 Eyes School

24 Eyes ( Nijyushi no Hitomi ) was one of the most popular Japanese movies ever. The original was made in 1955 and was set in an elementary school on Shodoshima which was also the actual location for the filming.

In 1987 the made a remake of the movie but development had made location filming difficult so a fake village and school was built a few k down the road and is now a  movie theme park...

There were far fewer visitors at the real school.

There are hundreds and hundreds of these old schools abandoned all across the Japanese countryside, a few being conserved, but most not....

School haikyo

Coming into Kawahira I stopped in to explore the old abandoned school

There are hundreds and hundreds of abandoned schools in the countryside of Japan. As the population has fled to the cities student numbers decrease until a community can no longer sustain a school.

Many of them get used as community centers.

This one had some machine tools and so was used for something, and also used for storage of agricultural equipment, straw, etc.

There were many holes in the roof and consequently the floor was in bad condition so I didnt try to explore upstairs.

A few more years and this building will collapse in on itself. Maybe a few years later it will be bulldozed. A few years after that they will maybe try and get it listed as a World Heritage Site.

Oldest Wooden School in Japan?

Following an email conversation about old schools in Japan I dug out this photo.

Its the Fukiya Elementary School in northern Okayama Prefecture, and it is believed to be the oldest wooden school in japan that is still being used.

Construction began in 1900 and was completed in 1909.

One hundred years later the school had the grand total of 6 students enrolled.

Atoichi Elementary School

On Sunday we drove up into the mountains to the village of Atoichi where we found a wonderful example of an old, wooden school building. It was built in 1931, and apparently that makes it one of the oldest.

Most Japanese schools, especially post-war, look like abandoned prisons or factories (which is pretty much what they are in my opinion), but all the wood of this one made it feel quite humane.

One man I spoke to, about my age, said that when he was at the school there were 400 students.

Now there are 19.

There was a big room for practising Tea ceremony. On a chart in the entrance hall was a list of all the local community members, mostly elderly, who volunteer at the school teaching things like art, tea ceremony, etc.

In one of the hamlets that make up Atoichi, the youngest member of the community is 78.

There was a computer room with at least 10 computers, which probably means it has the best computer to student ratio in any Japanese school.

I wonder how many more years it will be till the school is closed and the building begins its descent to becoming one more Haikyo.

It was Sunday, but most of the student body were in the playground, dressed up for Matsuri.

Behind the school buildings are some paddies, where the students grow their own rice, and today was the annual Tauebayashi (Rice planting song and dance) Festival.