Kuge no Okura

This gallery, a 15-minute walk from Usuki Station on the JR Nippo Main Line, operates out of a remodeled kura storehouse built in 1868 at the end of the Edo period. Used as a storehouse by sake brewer Kuge Honten, it was reborn as a gallery in May 2000. When it was turned into a gallery, the exterior and interior walls were decorated with painted tiles in a traditional Portuguese art form called Azulejo by artist Rogerio Ribeiro. The blue tiles are beautifully set off by the storehouse' white walls and their imagery recalls the area's early Japanese Christian history. Today, the gallery is used for events such as photo exhibitions and mini concerts.