Kurashiki Full-Day Private Tour with Government-Licensed Guide

Canals were built to allow boats and barges to navigate between the city's storehouses and the nearby port. A central section of the city's former canal system has been preserved in the Bikan Historical Quarter (倉敷美観地区, Kurashiki Bikan Chiku). The weeping willow trees that line the canal and the stone bridges that cross over the water make for a picturesque scene.

The Ohara Museum of Art (大原美術館, Ōhara Bijutsukan) was Japan's first museum of Western art. It is a private museum consisting of three adjacent buildings next to the canal and a separate building located in Ivy Square.

The Main Gallery building was constructed when the museum was founded, and features most of the museum's highlights. On display are masterpieces of Western art by Picasso, El Greco, Gauguin, Modigliani, Rodin, Klee, Pollock and Kandinsky among others. The artists in the collection span a wide variety of periods and nationalities.

1300 yen (includes entrance to the Kojima Museum)

Beside the Main Gallery are the Annex building and a building housing the Craft Art Gallery and the Asiatic Art Gallery. The Annex features a number of works by Japanese artists, and includes both oil paintings and sculptures. The Craft Art Gallery displays ceramics, woodblock prints, stencil dyeing, and other crafts. The Asiatic Art Gallery includes artefacts from Egypt and antiques from China.

The final building, the Kojima Museum, is located a five minute walk away in Ivy Square and is included in the admission fee. It is a gallery for Kojima Torajiro, a Japanese artist who painted in the Western style. Kojima purchased much of the art on display at the Main Gallery on behalf of Ohara Magosaburo, the owner of the Kurabo textile company and founder of the Ohara Museum. In fact, the Ohara Museum was built by Ohara in 1930 to commemorate Kojima, who had died the year before.

1300 yen (includes entrance to the Kojima Museum)

The Ohashi family was foremost amongst the merchant class of Kurashiki, and this is the residence they built for themselves in 1796. The house is typical of the machiya (Japanese for "town house") of Kurashiki's wealthy merchants. There are tatami floored rooms with elegant sliding doors and hanging scrolls for entertaining guests as well as private quarters, storage rooms and a kitchen.

In one striking difference with other machiya, the Ohashi Residence (大橋家住宅, Ōhashi-ke Jūtaku) is not built directly on the road but has a front gate and an open area, which was an architectural style exclusive to samurai residences. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), a strict caste system separated the social classes, with the samurai at the top and the merchants at the bottom. That the Ohashi family was able to use architectural designs usually reserved for samurai, was indicative of their local importance.

Admission
550 yen

Ivy Square is a complex of brick buildings covered in ivy that include museums, restaurants and a hotel. The area was the site of the first modern cotton mill in Japan, and the brick buildings were originally built as part of the mill in 1889. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), before the construction of the mill, the site was used as the office of the local magistrate, who exercised control of the city as a direct representative of the shogunate.

In building Japan's first modern cotton mill, the Kurashiki Bosekijo (Kurashiki spinning mill) company, also known as Kurabo, reaped the profits of introducing new industrial techniques to the country. The company is still active today in the textile and various other industries. Kurabo has built a memorial hall in one of the former cotton warehouses which traces the company's history to the present day. A number of other museums are located within and around Ivy Square:

The Kurabo Museum illustrates the history of the Kurashiki Bosekijo (Kurashiki spinning mill) company. There are five rooms each devoted to a different time period, from the company's foundation in 1888 to the present day. Artefacts are displayed for each time period.

Admission: 250 yen

This museum is dedicated to the artist Kojima Torajiro (1881-1929), who painted in the Western style. A number of his works are on display, as well as works of Egyptian and Islamic art from his own collection. The museum is part of the Ohara Museum, which houses many European works Kojima purchased on behalf of the owner.

Okayama has been Japan's denim capital since the 1970s, and Kurashiki's textile heritage lives on in vintage-styled denim, especially in this quirky lane of popular Japanese clothing brands. Denim fanatics should come for the denim-hued ice-cream, burgers (¥350) and steamed buns – all tinted with natural blue dyes. Even the benches and bathroom are jeans-inspired.

This museum is housed in an attractive complex of rice warehouses dating from the late 18th century, with interesting exhibits of exquisite household items from across Japan, including ceramics, glassware, textiles and furniture. There is little explanation but it's available in English.

Part gallery and part fun-house, this small museum is devoted to local legend Momotarō, with memorabilia, toys and depictions of the 'peach boy' from over the years. On the ground floor is a collection of amusing displays designed to trick the eye – get a photo of yourself emerging from a peach like Momotarō himself. The 'interactive' displays are dated (think high-school projects before computers), but this is part of the charm. Silly fun for a rainy day.