SHOKOKU-JI near KYOTO GYOEN where the former imperial palace stands

It's free to stroll through KYOTO GYOEN park and even look into the former imperial palace grounds. The imperial palace is now open to the public without advance application and it's free of charge. Near the GYOEN stands SHOKOKU-JI, a very big ZEN temple. You can try a garden there, an easy walking distance from the GYOEN. The temple has a museum too. Check it out.

SHOKOKU-JI GARDEN

TOJI-EN within a walking distance from RYOAN-JI or vice versa

When you wish to be away from the crowd in Kyoto, there's this simple way you can take.

In addition to the very famous temples and shrines, Kyoto has numerous more. You should just simply try one of those.

TOJI-IN is easy to go. My recommendation is you visit MYOSHINJI-JI, TOJI-IN, and RYOAN-JI on foot.

Check your Kyoto map. They are close to each other. The first two can be appreciated in a quiet comfortable settings. You need a bit of patience with the last because it's world-famous thanks to the Royal visit from the UK - visit by Queen Elithabeth the second in 1975.

Photos from TOJI-IN.

KAWAMURA MEMORIAL DIC MUSEUM OF ART

Surprisingly, this museum on the outskirts of tokyo has this invaluable collection of Rothko's MURALS supposed to have adorned the walls of the Four Seasons restaurant.

See this to know more about the Rothko room.

http://kawamura-museum.dic.co.jp/en/collection/mark_rothko.html

Because of the Rothko room, I tried the museum but there are many other worthy of seeing here. If you are an art lover and would like to be away from hustle and bustle of Tokyu for a day, this is a place for you.

In addition to the Rothko room, enchanting was the Twonbly room because of the settings of the room itself with two large windows incorporating the sky and trees under different sunshine outside and Twonbly's artworks - only two, which was also good - being there in THIS room. 

It was an extra gift for me to be able to see TOHAKU's monochrome painting 'Crows and Herons." His  'Pine Forest' is by far my favorite but this one is close.

 Museum signboard at the bus stop in front of JR Sakura station

 Stella

 Garden with easy nature trails

 Just before the museum closed at 5:00 pm

New wing of Corbusier's art museum, ueno, tokyo

The new wing of the national museum of western art, ueno, Tokyo, was designed by Maekawa, a Japanese architect who worked under Le Corbusier. The original wing designed by Le Corbusier is on the list of the world cultural heritage. 

Corbusier came to Japan in 1955 and stayed there for eight days. He looked at the site where the museum to exhibit the MATSUKATA COLLECTION was going to be built.

The collection consisted of western artworks collected by mr. Matsukata, an important business person of Japan in those days. Part of the collection kept in France was confiscated by the French government as enemy asset after the Second World War was over but as a result of diplomatic effort, was to be returned or PRESENTED to Japan with some conditions. 

One important condition was to build a museum suitable to exhibit the returned paintings and sculptures. Le Corbusier was approached as an architect of the new museum. He came to Japan, looked at the planned construction site, and later sent in the blueprints. In practice his three students including Maekawa was in charge of realizing the museum proposed by Corbusier. 

The Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, designed by Maekawa and opened in 1961, stands in front of the museum. It was built for opera and ballet performance but also commemorated the 500th anniversary of the city after the first castle was built in present-day Tokyo by OTA Dokan. Such complex for cultural activities was part of the plan proposed by Corbusier but given up due to financial straits. Later it came into being in a different way. The mentor and the student now see each other through their buildings.

 The green walls of the new wing

 

Bunka Kaikan whose large glass windows reflect autumn color in ueno park

Miraishin-no-oka

This marble garden is behind a colorful temple built in the twelfth century for the founder's mother. It's different from conventional temples, full of filial devotion but different type of atmosphere. Furthermore, it's surprising to find this garden in the back of the temple. You do not have to go to Italy or Greece. You would feel like you were there. The temple and the garden lie in one of the islands along the shimanami scenic sea route, IKUCHI-JIMA. The marble garden is something.

INBE, SHIZUTANI, & NARIWA

I saw nobody from abroad. Be one of the first to be there. INBE is home for BIZEN pottery. Lots of kilns and stores of BIZEN as well as remains of old ceramic firing places. SHIZUTANI SCHOOL was built for common people's education by lord IKEDA Mitsumasa in the Edo period in the 17th century. The roofs of the school were the BIZEN. The NARUWA MUSEUM was designed by ANDO Tadao. This time it hosts the special exhibit of KUSAMA Yayoi.

 

Amatsu Jinja Shinto shrine has BIZEN guardian animals at the TORII gate. The approach is also made of BIZEN.

And roofs, too.

BIZEN showcase and a living beckoning cat. The cat must be a store's PR member.

A climbing kiln for firing BIZEN.

IKEDA Mitsumasa, the founder of SHIZUTANI SCHOOL, had his relics  enshrined here.

The mound for Mitsumasa and stone walls unique to this compound.

Museum designed by ANDO on the former castle grounds.

Teshima something new from the 2016 Setouchi International Art Festival

The access to teshima is still inconvenient but it should be an integral part of your journey to this island where the circle of life is presented through art and architecture in the beautiful natural settings. 

Many of the installations for the triennnale will be gone but LEMON HOTEL stays. This is a renovated Japanese house converted into a hotel where you experience fun art. In this installation, you and your partner follow the instructions from your headset and eventually you might be doing HOHO LEMON. It requests you to pick up one of the lemons in the room, and hold it between the cheeks or HOHO of you and your partner, and take a picture.

I wonder if this activity of following the instructions stay because a staffer has to stand by and it needs some expense. But the hotel is very much booked up for the coming months. I might want to stay. 

This new installation for the 2016 triennale gives you a sense of being cradle by blessings from nature. 

This is made of NORI, sheets of dried seaweed. It's tasty. Many colors of the MORI was due to the nutrition each get when growing in the sea. Overtime, the NORI here has been discolored and it gives you a warm feeling, rather. 

The site on teshima where the illegal dumping and burning of industrial waste happened can be seen in a distance. This was taken from a chartered boat before landing on teshima. The waste treatment is planned to be finished next year, now going on in the facility in naoshima.

ORIZURU TOWER, very spiritual

You should stay for a long time or should come back again on the same day. The evening and night time visit must be fantastic and enrich your day time visit. Re-entry is permitted on the day when you purchased the ticket. The city of Hiroshima is beautifully presented and it's thanks to the sensibility of architect SANBUICHI Hiroshi. In a distance is seen the island of Miyajima. It looks clear and large. Your anticipation will rise in case you plan to visit the island after touring the city center.
Learn more about this spiritual building by visiting their official web site.

A haven in busy Kyoto

Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan. It sounds like a quiet graceful city. But not always the case. More and more are coming to Kyoto and to keep a peace of mind, you will appreciate a haven. Here it is. There's one on top of the hill. Try finding this. For the time being, the glass tea cottage is installed there. The round mound is Shogun-duka. Under the mound is the clay statue of a great general who was dispatched to the north of Japan to conquer the native people there. The statue is clad with armor armed with arrows and a spear, the guardian of the capital Kyoto. 

 Sweeping view of the city

 Glass chair

 Glass tea cottage

 And SHOGUN DUKA

Enjoy art in NARA

Nara, an ancient capital of Japan, is now offering an art project. Many are installations exhibited outdoors and free of charge. Try staying for a few days and wonder. Here are two of the artworks in central Nara.

 At Kofuku-ji

The artist had the image of LOTUS in mind. Lotus, now so familiar with us, traveled along Silk Road and came to Japan with Buddhism.

  At Kasuga Taisha grand shrine

The creators of this art are quite active recently, named teamLab. This, I liked the best.

For more about the art project, clime the URL below.

http://culturecity-nara.com/en/event/kotohogu/

Try SAN-IN

Try SAN-IN area. Visit the extraordinary ADACHI MUSEUM where art meets garden and stay for two hours, and then to YOU-SHI-EN garden where you eat lunch with the garden view followed by a stroll in the garden. The peony house in the garden offers you tree peonies in bloom all the time. To finish up, proceed to KITARO ROAD where YOKAI bronze statues line the street. Check the manga artist MIZUKI Shigeru who created these YOKAI based on his research and imagination and you will appreciate these creatures more. They are profound!

Pay attention to magnificent  stones in the Japanese garden;
 two examples here are dark-colored Saji-ishi on the right
and blue-colored Ao-ishi on the left
@ ADACHI MUSEUM OF ART

In the peony house at YUSHI-EN garden
Japanese tree peonies can be viewed all the year round.
The gardening artist ISHIHARA dubbed as the moss magician
created the design in the photo.

The creator of the YOKAI creatures
lining the MIZUKI SHIGERU ROAD is in the middle,
drawing MANGA. MIZUKI's signature characters
watch him attentively.

The main character KITARO has an unusual father:
an eyeball.
He was dead once but resurrected possessing the dead man's eyeball
because he was worried about his baby KITARO
who was born in the mother's coffin and crawled out of it alone.
Here, he is sold as a sweet round cake.

HIROSHIMA ORIZURU TOWER is incredible

The HIROSHIMA ORIZURU TOWER renovated by SANBUICHI Hiroshi, an architect based in Hiroshima, is definitely a remarkable addition to the city of peace. It stands next to the A-bomb Dome, formerly known as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall designed by Jan Letzel and completed in 1915. It's now a world cultural heritage property and a reminder of the reality of the bombing and embodies the message to remember for the sake of peace for the future generations. 

This ticket is for admission to the observation floor of ORIZURU Tower and ORIZURU or paper crane releasing into the glass well on the exterior wall. People fold paper cranes with the origami paper provided by buying this ticket in the air-conditioned lower floor which is accessible from the top floor or the observation floor. Both the observation floor open to the surroundings and the sealed air conditioned floor below are remarkable; in fact the whole brown building including the slope and slides just inside the outer structure is simply beautiful, sensitive, and moving. Five pieces of origami paper come with this ticket; therefore, five people can each fold a paper crane and release them. Others who do not buy this ticket still have to buy the admission ticket and it's 1700 yen - not cheap- but worth paying. Having said that, however, I hope the admission will become lower to 1000 yen.

Here's the home page.

http://www.orizurutower.jp/en/

Saijo city in ehime is blessed with crystal clear water from under the ground

In this city, the Komyo-Ji temple whose main hall was designed by ANDO stands. Naturally groundwater is welling up in this city. Th same water surrounds the main hall of the temple. 

The second visit after a long interval.

UCHIKO snaps

UCHIKO can be easily visited from MATSUYAMA by car. The area was once thrived with wax making. The old streets with former wealthy merchants ' houses remain. The Kamihaga residence is open to the public. The old-fashioned UCHIKO-ZA is a theater and has survived as such thanks to local people's' effort and passion. About 100 years old.

Aonagi or blue lull in the wind is a sleek hotel designed by ANDO

Originally built as an art museum and only that part was open to the public and the other part closed, the renovated building now hosts overnight visitors. It just recently opened. It's a very sleek hotel that provides you with something very special. It has two swimming pools; an outdoor public pool for every body staying there and an indoor private pool which has to be reserved in advance. The private one, if my memory serves right, has an onsen water jacuzzi. The number of the rooms is very limited and the ANONAGI SUITE has a splendid ocean view.

The hotel is out of nowhere but more people will come finding out the path leading to it.

The painting farthest below is a gift to the hotel by ANDO the architect.