Former Nakagomi School

The Nakagome School was built by public donation by the inhabitants of the village of Shimomura in 1875. It is currently the oldest western-style school building in Japan. The architect was a local village carpenter, Ichikawa Jiro, who studied in Sacramento, California in the United States from 1869 to 1873.

The building was in a pseudo-Western style incorporating both western and Japanese elements. The two story structure had a Japanese-style tile roof and the internal construction made use of Japanese traditional carpentry techniques; however, the design was symmetric with western elements such as front porch and veranda and an octagonal tower reminiscent of a lighthouse. The design also made extensive use of glass, which was unusual for the time due to its expense, and there are also some stained glass decorative elements. The building also contains a drum for sounding the time, which was a traditional Japanese method.

The outer walls are of white plaster with no exposed beams or pillars, with the arches around the windows and the corners of the building in black stucco mimicking stone.[2] The round floor contains small gender-segregated wardrobes to the left and right of the entrance and a large single classroom. The upper story contains six rooms including the principal's office, teacher's room, classrooms, etc. arranged on the right and left of a central corridor. The total area of the building is 259.4 square meters.

The building continued to be used as a school until 1919, when it was converted to a town hall, and later to a public hall. It was extensively repaired in 1971, and underwent a restoration in 1995 to bring it back to its original design. It is open to the public as a museum.

• List of Historic Sites of Japan (Nagano)

Media related to Old Nakagomi School at Wikimedia Commons

• Saku City official site (in Japanese)
• Saku Tourism Guide (in Japanese)
• Nagano Prefecture Sightseeing Guide