Inside HITOHAKU

 

HITOHAKU in Sanda, Hyogo is a huge natural history museum.

I covered the exterior architecture in the last post in this series.

In English, it is called the Museum of Nature and Human Activities.

When I visited in 2017 there was little information in English, but now the whole museum is covered with smartphone-readable info in multiple languages.

It is not just a museum,but also includes several research facilities.

The museum's collections are staggering, with 152,000 geological items and more than 2,000,000 biological specimens.

Included in that are 1.3 million insects, 68,000 animals, and 641,000 plants.

The museum is spread over four floors and includes sections on the natural history of Hyogo, and the always-popular-with-kids dinosaur exhibits.

The human impact on nature is also covered.

I found the msueum and its displays surprisingly interesting, and good value. The most expensive entry fee is 200 yen.

The previous post in this series on my walk along the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the wonderful exterior of the museum.

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National Museum of Art Osaka

 

The National Museum of Art Osaka is unusual in that it is completely underground.

It is located on Nakanoshima, the long island between the Dojima River and the Tosabori River.

The Japanese name translates as National Museum of International Art, although some Japanese works are represented.

The bulk of the collection is post-1945.

It was designed by Cesar Pelli.

The entrance is above ground and is inside a very sculptural structure made out of tubular steel.

Pelli says it represents reeds waving in the wind.

The museum claims it represents bamboo.

The museums origin is in a temporary art museum as part of Expo 70.

It opened in 1977 as the NMAO.

Due to aging facilities it closed down and was moved to the new site at Nakanoshima in 2004.

It is said to be the largest collection of contemporary art in Japan with more than 8,000 pieces.

The collection contains works by Picasso, Cezanne, & Max Ernst.

Mostly paintings, prints, and sculptures, in recent years the musuem has collected workd in other medio including video and Performance art.

The collection is displayed in changing exhibitions and also the msueum hosts special themed exhibitions...

Other Cesar Pelli structures I have covered are the Osaka Museum of History, also in Osaka, and the Seahawk Hotel in Fukuoka with its impressive atrium.

The previous post in this series on architecture in Osaka was on the walk from Namba Yasaka Shrine.

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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.

If you would like to subscribe by email, just leave your email address in the comments below. It will not be published and made public. I post new content almost everyday, and send out an email about twice a month with short descriptions and links to the last ten posts.