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We were shown the building by a volunteer Japanese guide with some basic English, enough to name the purposes of the rooms. This did add to our appreciation of the building. The grounds are gorgeous too, with the massed plums (albeit was autumn and pretty bare.)
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Date of experience: October 2019
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The ‘Shiro shitsu’(document room) to the right after entering the building has very good English translation so I recommend visiting that room first to learn the background history before walking around the building and garden area.
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Date of experience: August 2019
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After visiting Kairakuen, Semba Lake and Mito Komon´s birthplace I walked up to the former school inside a small but attractive park probably best visited when the plum trees blossom. The school building is a fine example of classical Japanese architecture. There are samples of teaching material, documents, etc. Outside the walls are a few shrines and temples. Fittingly the site also houses a high school.…
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Date of experience: November 2018
1 Helpful vote
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Most feudal domains in the Edo era maintained a school for samurais to provide them with higher education and training of swordmanship especially towards the end of the Edo era. Koudoukan was a relatively large school and up to a thousand samurais attended at the same time. Compulsory attendance days were set for samurais which was longer for the samurais from higher ranking families. A volunteer guide took us through the building. It was quite interesting to view the classrooms and the training ground. You can purchase a combined ticket with Koubuntei in Kairakuen that I introduce later, which is slightly cheaper (350 yen instead of 400 yen if bought individually).…
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Date of experience: February 2018
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Kodokan is not the most beautiful park I've seen in Japan, but I liked the history behind it and the Tokugawa shoguns. There's a little shop inside that sells handmade craft and I recommend buying small souvenirs there. Definitely better than in Tokyo. The Kodokan school building itself is pretty "standard", but I was a big fan of all the clean lines and perfect woodwork. All-in-all 30-45min.…
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Date of experience: July 2017
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