Bizen-shi

In the 2020 Population Census the population of Bizen-shi is 32,320 — about thirty-two thousand. Reading this city’s population calls for taking a merger into account. In 2005 the old Bizen City merged anew with two neighboring towns to become the present Bizen-shi. The old Bizen City before the merger had 28,683 people in 2000, and the post-merger 2005 had 40,241. From there it fell gradually after the merger — 37,839 in 2010, 35,179 in 2015, and 32,320 in 2020. The step in this article’s population mirrors that widening of the municipal area through merger.

Looking inside the figures, the shape of a small Seto Inland Sea city shrinking appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 22.8% in 2000 to 39.4% in 2020, nearing four in ten. Households with children make up a low 15.6% (2020). The Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.41 in fiscal 2023 — its own tax revenue covers only a little over four-tenths of expenditure, with a large dependence on the allocation tax. The numbers show the town of the kiln of earth and flame and the commoners’ schoolhouse deepening its aging while losing population in the post-merger area. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without tracing the history of the pottery and the schoolhouse.

This town was set by the pottery of earth and flame, by the schoolhouse the domain lord opened to commoners as well, and by the merger that widened the municipal area. The old layer is the pottery. In the stretch where this town lies, ware hardened by earth and flame alone, with no glaze applied, has long been made. Among the six kilns long surviving in Japan, this land’s kiln is said to be the oldest. In the Edo period the domain lord who governed this land protected this ware and appointed those skilled in the craft to official posts of fine work, supporting the making of pottery. As a one-of-a-kind ware, each piece differing in the color of the clay and the touch of the flame, this land’s name is to this day the very name of the ware itself.

And the domain lord of this land left another history. In 1670, on the thought of opening learning not only to the children of samurai but to commoners and to children of other domains, this lord had a schoolhouse built in this land. This schoolhouse, meant to share the chance to learn widely, is said to be the world’s oldest surviving public school for commoners. Its auditorium still retains the form of its founding and is designated a National Treasure. Meanwhile, in 2005 the old Bizen City merged anew with two neighboring towns, widening a municipal area facing the Seto Inland Sea. The oldest of the six ancient kilns, the schoolhouse opened to commoners, and the merger that widened the municipal area. Two ancient layers of differing character — the craft of the hands and a place of learning — still stand side by side in this land of the Seto Inland Sea. That is Bizen’s core.

What characterizes Bizen-shi is that, while carrying the history of the oldest of the six ancient kilns and the commoners’ schoolhouse, it has lost the population of the municipal area widened by merger. From the post-merger 40,241 in 2005 to 32,320 in 2020, about eight thousand were lost over fifteen years. The making of pottery is still handed down as this town’s craft, but it does not produce workplaces enough to hold the whole town’s population. This land facing the Seto Inland Sea is far from a large city and finds it hard to draw new workplaces widely. The younger generation can be read as moving to urban areas in search of work and study, and the population of the municipal area taken on by merger has fallen over a long span of time. That the share aged 65 and over neared four in ten at 39.4% in 2020, and households with children make up a low 15.6%, is the sign of that population structure.

Meanwhile the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. With few child-rearing households to begin with, the childcare capacity can be read as being maintained. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.41 is a level whose own tax revenue covers only a little over four-tenths of expenditure, with a large dependence on the allocation tax. As a small Seto Inland Sea city, it mirrors that its own tax base is limited. The population fell after the merger, aging neared four in ten, and fiscal strength is on the weaker side. Carrying a history with the power to draw people — old pottery and an old schoolhouse — yet not fully turning into workplaces: the shrinking of this Seto Inland Sea town lies in that not-fully-turning.

In Bizen, functions rooted in a land facing the Seto Inland Sea are inscribed. One is the history of ware hardened by earth and flame alone, with no glaze, said to be the oldest among the six kilns long surviving in Japan — an old layer in which this land’s name became the very name of the ware. Another is its character as a schoolhouse the domain lord opened not only to samurai but to commoners and to children of other domains, said to be the world’s oldest surviving public school for commoners, its auditorium remaining as a National Treasure. And the municipal area facing the Seto Inland Sea, widened by the 2005 merger, sets this town’s present shape.

Facing the Seto Inland Sea and blessed with fine clay — that geography called forth the pottery of earth and flame and let it take root under the protection of the domain lord. Two ancient layers of differing character — a kiln carrying the craft of the hands, and a schoolhouse that opened learning even to commoners — remain side by side in the same land. In this land at the southeastern tip of Okayama Prefecture, the kiln of earth and flame and the schoolhouse opened even to commoners still stand shoulder to shoulder. Bizen is the name of a town that carries the two on.