Architecture, Bikan Historical Quarter – Kurashiki, Japan

I mentioned yesterday that I visited Kurashiki during my trip to Japan this past summer. The Bikan Historical Quarter is known for 17th century warehouses called Kura, which stored rice. Unlike the ornate temples of ancient Japan, I found a beautiful simplicity in these utilitarian structures.

No, they don’t attract attention like the bright vermillion shrines of Fushimi Inari-taisha or the world-famous Golden Pavilion but there’s a real-world blue-collar authenticity to these structures.

I used my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the travel friendly Olympus 14-150mm f4-5.6 lens to capture these scenes. The 28mm to 300mm equivalent range gave me a lot to play with and I had fun picking out details, though I didn’t use the extreme end of my telephoto. My architectural observations below, for your viewing pleasure.