Tōno Children's Book Forest (こども本の森 遠野)

Tōno lies halfway between the interior and the coast. After the earthquake of 11 March 2011 it acted as a rear base for the stricken coastal areas and carried out recovery work through culture: cleaning and restoring damaged documents ("cultural property rescue", 文化財レスキュー), and a nationwide appeal for book and money donations that delivered about 200,000 volumes to the disaster areas.

In 2019 the architect Tadao Ando (安藤忠雄) proposed giving the town a place of books for children, to be a symbol of the recovery of the Tōhoku region. The proposal came through 赤坂憲雄, director of the Tōno Culture Research Centre (遠野文化研究センター), and 西舘好子, the centre's adviser. Ando starts from a conviction: "the symbol of Tōhoku's recovery is the future of its children", and for that future "books and reading are important". He suggested keeping the exterior of an old house in town and turning it into this library, and the town, the centre's two officials and he agreed on using an old house in the town centre.

In August 2020 Ando's office (安藤忠雄建築研究所) and the town signed a memorandum of understanding on the donation; in September the city council accepted a gift with conditions attached. The former 三田屋 was demolished from 10 October 2020, a ceremony launched the works on 16 November, another marked the raising of the frame on 3 April 2021, and Ando's office handed the building over to the town on 15 June 2021. The library opened on 25 July 2021; it is run by the town.

An appeal for books, open across the country from October 2020 to 31 January 2021, brought in about 17,000 volumes. The title of honorary director of the main building (本館名誉館長) goes to Chisako Wakatake (若竹千佐子), an author from Tōno and winner of the Akutagawa Prize; the books were chosen by the book director 幅允孝.

The main building is of timber, two storeys above ground: 436.66 m² of footprint and 498.10 m² of floor area. Designed in the spirit of Ando's proposal and given by him to the town, it replaces the town house (町家) 三田屋, built in 1900 and formerly a shop of textiles for kimonos (呉服店); after the shop closed it served as a meeting place and a venue for events and workshops for local residents. The exterior reproduces that of the house as first built, and some of the beams and pillars come from its demolition.

The stated concept is a "forest of books" (本の森) that people grow together, imagined as an open, airy space. Its keywords: forest, tree, book, seed, soil, cultivate, grow together, gather, the nature of Tōno, comfort, symbiosis.

On the ground floor, three reading rooms (閲覧室 A, B and C) hold the books, arranged in 13 themes, and a tatami room open to everyone serves as a space for local activities, the "room for everyone" (みんなのへや). Upstairs, a gallery displays work made during events and workshops.

Three dozō (土蔵), traditional earthen-walled storehouses, stood on the site. The first, fully renovated, became いちの蔵, open in normal times and used for events and local activities; the second, renovated, became a collection store, にの蔵; the third was demolished.

It is a library for reading on the spot: books cannot be borrowed. They are arranged in 13 themes. The shelves nearest the entrance cover Tōno and the Tōhoku region (遠野と東北): the collection of tales Tōno Monogatari (遠野物語, Tales of Tōno), written down by Kunio Yanagita (柳田國男), the study of folklore, the creatures that appear in it (妖怪) and the memory of the 2011 earthquake. The other themes range from nature and sport to animals, cooking, beautiful things, stories and words, the future and choosing a career, up to a theme called "living / dying"; one gathers books given by foreign embassies, and another is for adults close to children.

In fine weather you can read in the garden by asking the staff, with the book you have chosen. Eating is not allowed in the main building, where you may only drink in the designated places; いちの蔵 can be used for meals when it is not otherwise in use, and can be hired.

Admission is free, from 9:30 to 17:30, without reservation; groups of 15 or more reserve by phone or email. The library is closed every Wednesday, over the New Year period and during collection inventory periods. When it is very busy, entry may be suspended.

Address: 岩手県遠野市中央通り1番16号. Visitors come on foot from Tōno station (JR Kamaishi Line) or by car from the Tōno interchange of the Kamaishi Expressway; the site has two car parks, to the south and west, and others are nearby, some of them paid.