Former Nagano Prefectural Normal School Teachers’ Office
From the former Nagano Prefectural Office Building, travel east on the Bird Line for 600m, turn left at the intersection with the bus stop, then turn right at the next corner and we will find this building.
This is the former Nagano Prefectural Normal School Teachers’ Office.
Originally located in Nagano City, where the Nagano Municipal Library is now located, the building was moved and reconstructed by Kitano Construction Corp. in 1971.
Together with the former Daniel Norman residence next door, the Teachers’ Office was designated a Nagano Prefecture Treasure in December 1971.
Explanation boards have been erected along the road.
The Teachers’ Building is on the left and the former Daniel Norman Residence is in the distance on the right.
In 1872, the school system was promulgated and schools were established throughout the country. Even before the school system was promulgated, both the former Nagano and Chikuma prefectures were preparing to establish schools.
When the establishment of primary schools began, there was a serious shortage of teachers, and both prefectures opened Teacher Training Centre in 1873. The first step was mass rapid teacher training. In the former Nagano Prefecture, courses began in October, and by the end of the following year, provisional primary school teacher’s licenses had been issued to 345 people.
In 1874, the institute was operating out of a rented temple, but in 1875 a new school building was built and the name was changed to Nagano Normal School.
The Teachers’ Office in the photograph was built at this time as the administrative building of the Normal School. It was designed and built by Onogawa Seikichi, a master builder invited from Tokyo.
The windows are raised windows. And there is a semi-circular window above the front door.
The decoration of the roof eaves is another feature, with bargeboards (eaves lace decoration) used. This decoration is said to be the first example used in Nagano Prefecture.
Looking at the side of the building, a veranda is attached.
It was probably installed after the building was moved, as it is not shown in the photos taken before the building was moved.
The veranda is installed at an angle. (Described later)
Let’s also look at the rear of the building.
Excuse me for a moment and let me take a look inside.
The door in the centre appears to be the door to the stairwell.
On the right side, there is a handrail (?) of wood, but I wonder where it is from.
Well.
In 1878, the Emperor Meiji made a tour of the Hokuriku and Tokai regions, and also visited Nagano Prefecture.
I have previously mentioned the Emperor Meiji’s tour in my article on the Uedamachi School. This was the same tour. On the 7th September, the Emperor and his delegation stayed at Uedamach School and arrived in Nagano on the 8th September, where they stayed at Zenkoji Daikanjin.
On the 9th, they visited Nagano Prefectural Government, Industrial Exhibition Hall, Normal School, Nagano Court House and Joyama Park.
The image shows the Normal School at the time of the Emperor’s tour, taken from the 1907 issue of “Nagano Normal School Gakuyu: No. 37". The issue is titled 30th anniversary of the Emperor’s tour, and is a summary of the 1878 tour in Nagano Prefecture.
The main building is in the centre and the Teachers’ Office is slightly visible on the left. The second floor of the teacher’s office was used as the seat of Emperor Meiji.
On the day of the tour, 30 “outstanding" students were selected from four schools in (present-day) Nagano City, Ueda City and Sakaki Town to attend classes.
Ah.
I just noticed on seeing this photo. The second floor of the main building and the Teachers’ Office are connected by a short corridor. Does this mean that the 'veranda’ as it exists today was originally not a veranda but a corridor? Probably yes. The current veranda is probably a replica of a corridor. That would explain why it is slanted.
In 1887, a new school building was constructed at the current location of the Faculty of Education of Shinshu University and the Normal School was relocated. The old school building seems to have been used as a junior high school for a while. The dining hall was later demolished and the dormitory was burnt down in 1901, leaving only the main building and the old teacher’s office.
In 1929, the main building was demolished and the prefectural library was built. The old teacher’s office was moved 50 m across the site and renamed the Gyoko Memorial Hall.
A photographs from the time when the building was a memorial hall still exist. (Taken from 'The Emperor Meiji and His Imperial Tour’, published in 1938.)
After the World War II, the building was used to house the branch offices of the prefecture, etc., but appears to be empty house in 1969 due to dilapidation.
In 1969. A prefectural audit decided to demolish the former Teachers’ Office.
Demolition work began on 8 July 1970. Volunteers, including the chief editor of the prefectural education history, the former library director, municipal cultural heritage committee members and prefectural history compilation committee members, gathered to negotiate with the library and the prefecture to stop the demolition, but talks were inconclusive.
The president of Kitano Construction Corp. took over the building, and it was decided to preserve it by switching from demolition to relocation work.
The relocation and restoration was completed in July 1971 at Iizuna Kogen in Nagano. In the same year, the building was designated a Nagano Prefecture Treasure, which it remains to this day.
Last topic.
Please look again at the photo from the 1938 book. A stone monument stands in front of the building.
In fact, the monument still exists at this location, on the site of the current municipal library.
(The prefectural library moved to Wakasato, Nagano in 1979 and the Nagano Municipal Library opened on this site in 1985.)
On the front of the monument is the inscription “The place where Emperor Meiji went to visit", and on the side “Built on 9 September 1937" and “This place is the site of the visit of Emperor on 9 September 1878, and is the site of the Nagano Normal School".
This is the current Nagano City Library, and the monument still stands at the arrow.
[Reference] (written in Japanese)
'Nagano Prefectural Normal School Alumni No. 37’ (Nagano Pref. Normal School Alumni Association, 1907)
'Emperor Meiji and his Imperial tour’ (Ikujiro Watanabe, 1938)
'History of Nagano Prefectural Government, Vol. 1’ (Nagano Prefecture / 1971)
'On the Early School Buildings of Nagano Normal School’ (by Kazuo Nakamura / circa 1971).
'History of Nagano Prefecture, Art and Architectural Materials, Part 2 (Architecture) Commentary’ (Nagano Prefecture, ed., Nagano Prefecture History Publication Society, 1990)