SOLO JOURNEY | PROJECT SHAKKEI ISLAND
An old wooden one-story elementary school stands by the sea, on a tiny island in the Seto Inland Sea.
The three small buildings, built in the Meiji era, have not been used as an elementary school for a long time now, although they had been used for school camps later on. Now abandoned, a huge camphor tree remains, letting us imagine the days of how it used to be with school children.
A traditional Japanese residence also stands within the same grounds, with remnants of a Japanese garden. It used to be the house of the family who built the school. From the garden, a magnificent view of the sea and mountains spreads out before your eyes.
I hope to help this place become a wonderful travel destination. As the garden will be borrowing the scenery of the mountains and the sea, I named it the Shakkei Island, or Island of Borrowed Scenery.
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Vol.03 The structure and the exterior
We are making some progress with the plan, but I haven’t decided how this place should be used, and ultimately I don’t think we need to. Because undoubtedly, the fantastic scenery will make it a place where you will have a pleasant time, whatever you do.
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Vol.02 The fish farm
The prefab structure turned out to be a blowfish farm in disuse. Apparently, it had only been an aquaculture farm for a short time, before being used as a fish tank to train dolphin calves for dolphin shows.
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Vol.01 First visit
Seeing the site for the first time, this was when I actually learned the existence of school buildings there, since they hadn’t been mentioned in the records.