In this paper, the following things were described regarding the former Kurayoshi City Meirin Elementary School as the first circular public school building which had been completed as the third one in Japan: (1) The detailed background and placement of this circular type school building were explained based on “Gakko enkakushi (History of Kurayoshi City Meirin Elementary School)” possessed by Meirin Elementary School and; (2) The advantages and disadvantages of a circular type school building understood by specialists including Kanao Sakamoto were organized from newspapers and magazines and then its advantages and disadvantages interpreted by teachers and students were revealed according to “Enkeikosya wo donoyouni ikasuka (How Circular Type School Buildings Should be Used)” (Published in “Gakko enkakushi”).

 Kanao Sakamoto seized an opportunity to actually build the circular type school building of Kurayoshi City Meirin Elementary School, beginning construction in February 1955 and completing it in September, through his brotherin-law named Yoshimi Furui who was a Diet member from Tottori Prefecture. This building was constructed by removing an existing building and then placing it in front of the school gate, treated symbolically as the new face of Meirin Elementary School.

 Both teachers and students pointed out the moving distance shortened thanks to the concentration of their traffic lines as one of the advantages of a circular type school building, proving that the traffic line plan based on a circular form effectively functioned as Sakamoto had assumed. In addition, it was found that there were many fan-shaped classrooms regarded as functional because of their advantage that their blackboard enjoyed good visibility with not reflecting light and accordingly they were suitable for a large class. Further, the advantages advocated by specialists (Kanao Sakamoto in particular) included the efficient use of the ground and building area on the ground of the geometric property of a circular form and the economical construction with reducing construction materials, many of such advantages being perceived as attractive by constructors. In this sense, Kanao Sakamoto’s approach to trumpeting the circular type school building early as a topic of conversation via mass media such as newspapers and magazines could be evaluated as excellent in terms of management sense also from the fact that a circular type school building was going to be widely accepted throughout Japan thereafter.

 Meanwhile, the disadvantages of a circular type school building included what were caused through the adoption of a circular form such as the uniformity of sunshine and insolation by classroom, the teachers dazzled by daylighting from the back of a classroom, and the bustle of its central areas (spiral stairs and passages), clearly indicating that the fact that a circular type school building could be regarded as functionally imperfect was certainly associated with its crucial defects as a school building.

 Thus, in this paper, the reality of the circular type school building that overemphasized economic efficiency and was functionally imperfect was successfully clarified. It can be concluded that this imbalanced character of a circular type school building was the very potential reason for its having become prevalent once but gone out of use suddenly.