Former the Headquarters of the 9th Army Division
The National Crafts Museum is located in Kanazawa City.
This art museum was renovated from two buildings, former the headquarters of the 9th Army Division (left) and the former Kanazawa Kaikosha (right).
Since I recently wrote articles about the former Kanazawa Kaikosha on the right, let’s take a look at the former the Headquaters 9th Army Division, which is located next to it.
In the first photo, the sky is clear, but the second photo was taken on a different day, so it is cloudy.
This is former the Headquarters of 9th Army Division.
Built in 1898 on the ruins of Kanazawa Castle’s Ninomaru, the government building was used as the Headquarters of Kanazawa University from 1949 after the World War II.
Later, in 1968, it was moved to the site northeast of the current Prefectural Noh Theatre. Because of the narrow site, both wings were cut in half when the building was moved, and it was used as one of the prefectural office building.
In 2017, work began on relocating the building for use as the National Crafts Museum. The truncated wings were also to be rebuilt, and the Crafts Museum opened in 2020.
The photo used in the article on the former Kaikosha is shown again, it was taken from the diagram on the explanatory board installed in front of the entrance. The army headquarters building on the left is a wooden structure in the center, with reinforced concrete extensions on the left and right.
I entered the “Living with Flowers” exhibition currently being held.
Private photography is allowed inside the museum, although there are some works that cannot be photographed. (The use of flash, tripods, and video recording are prohibited.)
Therefore, this time I will post photos of the interior of the building.
The center of the building is located behind the reception desk. This is the entrance hall.
Turning around, we will see a staircase leading to the second floor.
Behind the stairs are lockers for visitors.
Once inside the exhibition hall, the floor and walls are new, so this staircase is probably the only place where the atmosphere of the wooden structure can be felt.
Staircase landing.
The white walls, which look new, are plastered and reproduced from the time of construction.
At the top of the stairs, the small door in the center is the entrance to the rest room. This is directly above the old entrance.
This room used to be the division commander’s room when it was the army headquarters.
Interior of the rest room. The backlighting makes it difficult to see, but the windows and ceiling are modern. It appears that the window frames from those days were left in place and new windows were built inside.
The bench in the center of the room is not a fixture but a crafts work. (You are allowed to sit on it, but only gently…)
The bench was made by Tatsuaki Kuroda (1904-1982) in 1949.
The name of the work was “Settle, incised floral motif, clear lacquer on zelkova wood".
Standing in front of the bench, I looked toward the stairwell.
The walls have been cleaned and do not look old, but this room must have been plastered from the beginning of the construction.
Lighting in the hall. The reliefs on the ceiling were restored to their original design. The lighting is not from those days, but a reproduction.
I was curious to see what the back of the building looked like, so I went around. (This is a photo taken on the same day as the first one.)
The part we can see in front of us is the restored reinforced concrete structure. The exterior color is said to be a reproduction of the one used when the building was completed.
A steel frame staircase is attached to the outside. I guess this steel frame assembly means that the staircase alone is self-supporting without putting much load on the building.
This is what the back side of the entrance looks like. I could not get close to the wall because it was surrounded by a fence.
In the former army, five divisions from the 8th to 12th were newly established in 1898. At that time, the headquarters building was constructed with almost the same specifications.
The remaining 11th Division headquarters building in Zentsuji City, Kagawa Prefecture, also has a similar shape.
[Related page on the main website]
"Former the headquarters of 9th Army Division“ (2007-06-02 updated)
"Former 11th Army Division Headquarters“ (2006-12-30 updated)