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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HITOHAKU Museum of Natural History & Human Activities in Sanda

 

The next pilgrimage temple on the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage is in Sanda, a small city in the mountains of Hyogo, not too far from Kobe and also Osaka.

However, my first stop after arriving in Sanda was a huge museum complex in a park.

It seems to be mostly a Natural History Museum and is aimed at kids.

However, the complex is huge and contains other institutions including research facilities.

Obviously my interest was in the glorious glass facade....

This actually the rear of the museum, facing a big park....

The entrances are on the other side.

I have been unable to find out who the architect was, although I believe it is an adaptation of an existing building.

It opened in its current form in 1992...

Particularly special for me was the section that had mirrored ceiling as well as walls...

Of course the pools of water only added......

I was hard-pressed to reduce the number of photos I used in this post from the more than 70 I took....

I will cover the interior in the next post in the series....

The previous post in this series on the Kinki Fudo Myoo Pilgrimage was on the unusual Rakan statues at Tamonji Temple.

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Rakan at Tamonji

 

Rakan,  sometimes called arhats, are said to be the disciples of the historical Buddha.

Statues of them are known for being quite expressive, with every one being distinct.

It is said that you cannot fail to see the features of  someone you know in at least one of them.

Sometimes, a full 500 Rakan statues will be on display, but more commonly, much fewer.

On the hillside approach to Tamonji Temple north of Kobe, I was surprised to find these pictured here...

One group were more expressive and somewhat larger than most of the others. They had some patina of green, indicating they were somewhat old.

Most seemed to be newer and of a smaller, standardized size and with fewer features.

I visited early in the morning and so the low sun and shadows helped make them appear more magical...

I have posted on rakan many times before, including Sennyoji Temple in Kyushu with a full 500, another 500 on an island mountaintop, and the quite well-known ones on Miyajima.

The previous post was on the many other sights, and the intriguing history of Tamonji Temple.

Please take time to enjoy the photos..... this is not tiktok.....

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.