滋賀県近江八幡市を拠点に、1908年頃から日本全国で活動を展開したヴォーリズ建築事務所による設計の豊郷小学校旧校舎群。1,000を超えるヴォーリズ建築のなかでも公立小学校は特に珍しいものです。鉄筋コンクリートの校舎や広く長い廊下、独立した図書館など、当時としては最先端の設備を備えていました。「東洋一の小学校」と呼ばれた旧校舎群を、豊郷町観光ガイドの案内で巡ってみましょう。
当時珍しかった鉄筋コンクリートの校舎。建設当時の外壁色を復元し、現代に蘇りました。
1階は100ｍ、2階は88ｍで、幅は3ｍの広々とした廊下も特徴的で、廊下にも温水暖房が設けられていたとか！
コツコツと頑張ることが大切という教訓も、小学校にぴったりです。
3階は、アニメファン交流の場として今も活用されています。黒板にメッセージを書くこともできますよ！
通常非公開の屋上からは豊郷の風景が一望できます。
まるで礼拝堂のような講堂は、現在も学校行事や各種イベントに使われています。
Experiencing how Japanese classrooms were set up and the facilities they had. Enjoyed seeing the anime room from the famous K-ON anime.
Toyosato Elementary School is a beautiful school. From it`s remarkable long wooden hallways to it`s church like auditorium, the school is both Japanese and Western in style.
During the tour I came to learn that the reason for this is because the school was designed by the American born designer, William Vories. I liked how Mr. Furukawa, the man who donated the buildings, incorporated a lesson of perseverance a teacher of his once taught him through the story of the turtle and the hare. On the staircase handrails you can see small cute sculptures of both a turtle and a hair depicting their race going all the way up to the top floor. My favorite room in the school was the science room. They had many preserved scientific instruments. From an early ultraviolet light generator and a massive electrometer to a wide variety of taxidermy, I could get a feeling that the students had wonderful science classes. The school is also famous for being the setting for the anime, K-On. I did not know much about this anime, but was able to appreciate it due to all the fans that were visiting while we were there. Lastly, the volunteer guides were extremely friendly and talkative and made us feel very welcome.
Visit to the science room.
Seeing the old classrooms.
Really interesting to see a unique school within Japan and to get a look at how classes were arranged.
