Kanazawa Municipal Tamagawa Library Annex (2)

2025-06-21

I visited the Kanazawa Municipal Tamagawa Library.
Entered the library, but since photography is not allowed inside the building (an application form is required), this article is only about the exterior of the building.

I entered from the west side of the building. This is a passageway for business use, so general vehicles are not allowed to enter.
The sign behind the “No Entry” sign was a notice about the replacement of the air conditioning system.

This brick-walled building is now called the Archives of Early Modern History Records.
Looking up at the wall from the west. (Water droplets were on the lens because of the rain.)

The door on the right side, which seems to have had some kind of film or something applied to the glass from the inside, has deteriorated and is falling apart.
This part was not a wall originally, because a longer building was cut off at this point. The window frames, doors, and walls must have been moved from some other part of the building.

The Archives of Early Modern History Records is viewed from the southwest. The roof in the center is a passageway to the Tamagawa Children’s Library on the left.

I wanted to see one thing before entering the archives, so I walked south.
At the edge of Tamagawa Park, next to the elementary school ground, there is a clock tower like this one.

In fact, this clock tower used to be attached to the roof of the front center of the Kanazawa Tobacco Manufacturing Factory.
When the factory was demolished, the clock tower was moved to the new Kanazawa factory in Yonaizumi, Kanazawa. (It was in 1973.)

And when the Tamagawa Children’s Library opened in 2008, Kanazawa City took over the clock tower from Japan Tobacco Inc. at the request of local residents, and the clock tower was moved back to this location.

After checking the clock, I took a tour of the archives and came to the connection to the main library.
From there I could go outside, but the rain was getting heavier, so I decided to take a look inside the library as well.

This photo shows the south wall of the Archives of Early Modern History Records.
The exterior of this building was restored to retain as much of its old appearance as possible, while the old wooden and steel structure inside was removed and a new reinforced concrete structure was built.
In 1984, the building was designated as a Kanazawa City Designated Preserved Building, and in 1996, it was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.

By the way, this may be something I am just unaware of, but I have a question.

The name on the list of registered tangible cultural properties is “Kanazawa Municipal Tamagawa Library Annex (former Monopoly Corporation C-1 Factory),” but what does this “C-1 Factory" mean?
Since the Monopoly Corporation was established in 1949, there is no way that the factory called by the name when it was built. So it must have been an afterthought.
I have considered several possibilities, but I am not sure.
(1) For administrative reasons, was the factory divided into separate compartments and named such as ABC?
(But I have seen a site plan from the days of the Monopoly, and there is no indication that the plant was divided into separate compartments.)
(2) Were symbols assigned to each factory in each region of the Monopoly Bureau?
(3) Did the Ministry of Finance have a template for the design during the Monopoly Bureau era, and called it Type A or C depending on the shape?
I tried to think of some answers, but I am not sure.

The earliest mention I could find is in the “Japanese Modern Architecture Conspectus” of 1980, but I wonder if the Architectural Institute of Japan named it.
This notation has been cited more, and some sites even state that “This factory was built in 1913 as the C-1 factory of the Monopoly Corporation". At that time, there was no Monopoly Corporation yet.

I browsed books in the library for a while, but the rain seemed to be easing off a bit.
I did not feel like taking a walk outside of the main building, so I decided to leave the Tamagawa Library now.
The wall on the right half of the photo is also a cut surface of the long building.

This is the east wall. Bricks soaked in rain are also nice.
There is a plate by the door.

When I got closer, I found that it is a plate of Kanazawa City Designated Preserved Buildings.

What a surprise! Kanazawa City also states that “the building was built in 1913 as the tobacco factory of the Japan Monopoly Corporation“, as if the Monopoly had existed since before the World War II.
So this is how more and more “unidentified history” is being created.