Kuroshio Choritsu Ogata Library

 

Out in the middle of nowhere in Japan, you will come across huge, modern architectural marvels.

They come from a period in Japan before the bubble burst and the government was throwing huge sums of money at the provincial towns. Actually, the money was headed to the coffers of the construction industry, the Japanese equivalent of the American Military-Industrial Complex.

The vast majority of these projects were some kind of cultural centre,... museums, auditoriums etc and often with a local theme.

So, on the Kuroshio coast of the SW part of Kochi and Shikoku, we have this structure.

It is a combination of public library, literary museum, and a cultural centre.

My wifes cousins family are Zen priests nearby, so I have visited before. This time I was walking the long section of the Ohenro Pilgrimage between 2 widely spaced temples. The previous post can be seen by clicking this link.

Not only steps to the roof, but bench seating for outdoor performances....

The literary museum is dedicated to a local, 20th-century author whose pen name was Akatsuki Kambayashi.

Real name, Tokohiro Iwaki, he died in 1980 and wrote in the I Novel genre.

I read almost no fiction nowadays and so am not at all familiar with his work.

The architect was Norihilo Dan, a man whose other works I am not familiar with, though he seems to be well known for his environmental concerns.

I like the structure.

I like buildings that surprise with different arrangements of light and space as you explore a building.

It must have been quite impressive when newly built, with its gleaming white exterior.

Unfortunately the Japanese weather is not kind to exposed concrete, especially when white.

Maybe its wabi sabi.....

The previous post in this series on my walks between temples on the Shikoku Pilgrimage was on the stormy Kuroshio Coast.

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