The Old Senkyo Jinjo Shogakko Elementary School

An incredible structure with the sense of time travel. It’s worth the trip just to see this building but Maniwa has so many wonderful sites to see, you could enjoy a week here. I recommend going during the sakura blossom period. There are so many trees throughout the town but very few people😍

Beautifully preserved primary school with original floors, windows and master’s office. Exemplary main hall with incredible ceiling. Includes exhibition of architect’s other works.

This is a very historical primary school. It was built more than 100 years ago.

I attended elementary school there from first to fourth grade. That must have been about 50 years ago... My maternal side is buried in Kuze, so I stop by every year during the Obon holidays. One day, a long time ago, I was talking to the caretaker and heard a story about how you could eat school lunches on the tableware from that time. However, while we were talking, one of the people who prepared school lunches back then (my grandmother's sister) died in an accident, and I'm sad to say that the story died out after that. During the war, it was difficult to gather materials, so the corridor siding was made by combining materials of different widths, and I can hear all about the difficulties of construction. As an adult, I appreciate the magnificence of this building once again, and I think the finish of the auditorium's lattice ceiling is particularly noteworthy. I have many fond memories of sliding down the stairs and having school assemblies before recess and making bamboo kites in the auditorium. In the winter, it was very cold, so we had a big stove lit and we hung wet gloves and socks on the railings to dry. National Route 181 runs directly in front of the school and there is a lot of traffic heading towards Yonago, so the teachers created a course like the ones you see at a driver's license center in the schoolyard, where students learned bicycle hand signals and traffic rules. Children who completed the course and passed were allowed to cycle on the national highway, and younger children rode in single file, sandwiched between other children who had passed. There was also detailed instruction to avoid accidents. Behind the building were classrooms for younger students, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, and a separate building for older students, as well as a library, but these have all been demolished and turned into a parking lot.

It is a nationally designated cultural property. As we entered the school building, a volunteer gave us a lot of explanations. It seems to have been used as a filming location for many movies, and the fact that you can visit for free is a big plus.