Wake

Wake is a district of eastern Bizen, where wooded hills enclose the quiet valley of Shizutani. In 1670 Ikeda Mitsumasa, lord of Okayama, ordered his retainer Tsuda Nagatada to establish a school there for the children of commoners. Its setting had impressed Mitsumasa as a suitable place for study. The school grew into a lasting institution, with a lecture hall roofed in the local Bizen ceramic tiles.