Chiisagata-Ueda Education Hall (the old hall)
I visited some buildings in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture in September of this year, but I haven’t organized them just by taking pictures. I noticed, there are only a few left in 2020. So I will keep the record on my blog while sorting through the photos.
This is the old building of the Chiisagata-Ueda Education Hall, it is near the Ueda Castle Ruins Park. “Chiisagata" and “Ueda" are the name of the area, both areas are sometimes collectively referred to as “Josho". Since the new conference building was completed in 2016, this building is called as the old hall.
Currently, it is open to the public as “Shinshu Ueda Furusato Senjinkan" that means A Museum of Local Predecessors in Ueda, but it opened on June 29, 2020, so it was only three months old when I visited.
I received a pamphlet, I think it was just created this year.
As written on the cover, the auditorium on the second floor is the Tsuruzo Ishii Art Museum. (Tsuruzo Ishii Art Museum has been open to the public since 2008.)
The front of the building. It was built in 1938, the construction cost of 18,000 yen was covered by donations accumulated by the member teachers.
The Chiisagata-Ueda Education Association was established in 1884, but the secretariat rented a room at Ueda Main School (currently Seimei Elementary School) and used schools and government offices in the city for meetings.
The members contributed money over the years to accumulate the “Chiisagata Education Association Fund". And they purchased land in 1937, and the hall was completed the following year.
After the construction of the new conference building in 2016, the office function was relocated there. The first floor of old building is used as the secretariat and conference room of various organizations, and the display about local people.
The display about local people. The room isn’t big, I wish the display to be a little easier to see. There was also a panel about Tsuruzo Ishii.
The corridor on the first floor.
Taking the stairs upstairs. The stairs leading to the upper right are short stairs leading to the storage room just above.
The entrance to Tsuruzo Ishii Art Museum.
Tsuruzo Ishii (1887-1973) is a sculptor, printmaker, and Western-style painter from Tokyo. He had been teaching as a lecturer at a sculpture workshop in summer held by the Ueda Education Society in Ueda City from 1924 to 1970.
As a result of this relationship, the Tsuruzo Ishii Museum of Art was opened in Ueda City in 1985. The old library was used as the art museum, but due to earthquake resistance issues, it was moved to its current location in 2008.
I got permission to shoot inside the building, but I forgot to confirm the shooting of the artwork, so I posted only the photo of the ceiling.
The entrance of the building.
From the front again. I’m interested about the triangular bay window on the entrance, but I couldn’t see it from the inside because the curtain was pulled on the second floor because it was an art exhibition.
The west wall facing the road. Looking at the web site of the Chiisagata Ueda Education Association, the wall surface on the west side had been repaired since August, so this means that the repair has just been completed. No wonder it was clean.
The doorway on the west wall side. This is also something like freshly painted.
I think it’s much better than the paint being peeled and tattered.
Well, the old library where the Tsuruzo Ishii Museum was located is actually near here (200m), so I’ll go there later. But I know that the building is closed, so I will see only the outside.
(Continued next article)
【reference】
“Shinshu Ueda Furusato Senjinkan" pamphlet and notices in the hall
Chiisagata Ueda Education Association web site
(Translated : 2021.03.15)