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.