Kurokabe Square (Black Wall Square)

Featuring an emotionally rich townscape with a series of Japanese-style buildings from the Edo and Meiji periods, Kurokabe Square is an attractive area with a collection of museums, galleries, glass studios and other cultural facilities, restaurants, and cafes, all of which make use of traditional architecture.

A series of buildings from “Kurokabe No. 1” to “No. 30,” known for their black plaster Japanese-style architecture, are located in the area around the intersection of Hokkoku Kaido and Otemon Dori (Mino Tanikumi Kaido), generally referred to as “Fuda no Tsuji. This location was the site where a high tag was erected in the Edo period.

It is also known as Japan’s largest glass art exhibition area, attracting visitors with its glass stores, workshops, galleries, and hands-on classes, including the Kurokabe Glass Museum, Japan’s largest art gallery of glass art, located in the renovated Kurokabe Bank, which has been a beloved institution since the Meiji era.

It is the most popular tourist spot in the Kohoku region, attracting approximately 2 million visitors annually. Various events and music box experiences are also held regularly.

History

Nagahama developed as the castle town of Nagahama Castle, first built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and became a center of commerce through Rakuichi Rakuza.

However, from around 1975, the number of pedestrians in the central area declined due to suburban development, and the area began to decline. In particular, the opening of the large shopping center Nagahama Rakuichi in 1987 marked a major turning point.

In an effort to revitalize the city, the former 130th Bank (completed in 1899), nicknamed “Kurokabe Bank” and located at “Fudanotsuji,” the center of the area, was facing the threat of being demolished. In 1988, a third sector called “Kurokabe” was established with the concept of a museum city to preserve and revitalize the old townscape.

The main goal of Kurokabe was the preservation and revitalization of the former 130th Bank, which opened in 1989 as the Kurokabe Glass Museum.

Since then, “Kurokabe” has successively revitalized the surrounding old buildings, transforming them into art museums, glass stores, workshops, galleries, cafes, and restaurants.

A total of 30 old buildings participated in the “Kurokabe Machizukuri” project, and with the extension of the New Rapid Transit to Nagahama Station in 1991, the number of tourists increased, and this vitality spilled over into the revitalization and utilization of the surrounding old buildings.

The project focuses on glass crafts that do not put pressure on local industry, and the Kurokabe Glass Museum has consistently ranked first or second among Shiga Prefecture’s tourist attractions from 2000 to 2020, with glass crafts being recognized as a local brand.

This area, once a desolate shopping street and old residential area, has been transformed into the largest tourist attraction in the Kohoku region, supported by 400 years of tradition. With approximately 2 million visitors a year and a variety of facilities and stores, Kurokabe Square is a must-see tourist attraction when visiting Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture.