Former Shizutani School

The Former Shizutani School stands in a quiet valley in Bizen, Okayama Prefecture. Ikeda Mitsumasa, lord of Okayama Domain, had it built under his retainer Tsuda Nagatada, and it is known as a school open to the children of commoners. The lecture hall is a National Treasure and the whole site is a Special Historic Site.

Construction began in 1670 and the main buildings were in place by about 1674. After Mitsumasa's death in 1682, Nagatada and others rebuilt the original thatched buildings and covered the roofs with durable unglazed tiles that are said to resist cracking even after some 300 years. The school was closed in the early Meiji era but kept educating under different names until 1964.

Highlights are the lecture hall with its polished lacquered floor, the stone wall around the grounds, and many Important Cultural Properties such as the Shosai study, the library and the Confucian shrine. Autumn is the best season, with colored leaves and an evening illumination event (check the official site for dates). Allow about an hour to an hour and a half. The site also has a museum, the Tsubakiyama hill, the stone gate and the Kōyōtei pavilion. Eating and drinking are not allowed on the grounds, nor are pets.