Kaichi School, Education museum in Matsumoto, Japan
Kaichi School is an education museum in Matsumoto housed in an 1876 building that now displays school desks, teaching materials, and documents from the early modernization era. The rooms preserve the layout of a Meiji-period elementary school with polished wooden corridors and tall windows that let in natural light.
The school opened its doors in 1876 to provide children from non-samurai families with access to education during the rapid changes of the Meiji Restoration. It served as an elementary school until 1963 and was then converted into a museum to preserve the history of public schooling.
The name derives from the kanji character for "beginning of wisdom," reflecting how learning was viewed during Japan's opening to outside influences. Visitors can walk through classrooms where children once sat at low wooden desks under paper screens that filtered daylight.
The grounds sit in a quiet residential neighborhood of Matsumoto, about a ten-minute walk from the city center. Most exhibition texts are in Japanese, though some rooms offer multilingual explanations at the entrance hall.
Local residents financed seventy percent of the construction costs through voluntary donations and fundraising, showing the community's strong interest in having its own school. The building's tower holds a bell that once announced the start of classes and remains in place today.
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