Nagi Moca: Sun

The third and final section of the unique museum in Nagi is called "Sun" and is basically a huge cylinder set on a north south axis.

 

The artwork contained within is titled "heart" and is by artists Shusuka Arakawa and Madeline Gins. Entry into the cylinder is via a small room underneath. The walls are covered with photographic portraits by local residents of Nagi. A dark, enclosed spiral staircase leads up....

 

The interior of the cylinder is somewhat disorienting and playful, and at first the bright light from the end makes everything a silhouette and not at all clear. As one walks up to the end and look back it all becomes clearer.

 

The room contains a model of the famous zen garden from Ryoan-ji in Kyoto but also includes a reflection of it with radial symmetry, not mirror symmetry. 

The Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art in the mountains of Okayama is a unique experience created through a collaboration of the famous architect Arata Isozaki and several artists. The other two sections are called Earth, and Moon.

The view from the garden at 5am

The sun hits my riverside garden around 6am so I like to get as much work done in it before that.

In the countryside the PA plays its little jingle at 5am and 5pm, and while I see little point in getting up at 5am in the winter, in the summer it makes sense as it allows me to practise siesta.

Across the river gets the sun first.....

and then it hits the garden..... if it were a cloudy day i would work longer, but Im dripping with sweat by 6:30 so its time to head home for breakfast.

Back home in the valley it will be a few hours till the sun reaches over the mountains.... till then the mist slowly burns off....

Island Tower Sky Club

The Island Tower Sky Club is the tallest building in Fukuoka.

145 Meters tall with 42 floors it is an apartment building on island City, the man-made island in Hakata Bay.

It was designed by the Takenaka Corporation and opened in 2008

Buddhas, Jizo, & other statues of Kunisaki 2

This set of Jizo are quite unusual, not only in their facial expressions, but also in that they are ceramic and not the usual stone.

Often large groups of statues of different figures will be rakan, disciples of the Buddha.

I am not sure who this guy is, maybe one of you can tell me, but like many of the buddhist pantheon it seems to have its roots in Hinduism.

These look like Jizo, guardian of children among other identities. Possibly Mizuko Jizo for children who died before birth.

Once again, I have no idea who this pair are. maybe some of you know?

All of thesae photos were taken on the Kunisaki peninsular in Oita Prefecture, north Kyushu, one of my favorite places in japan and home to an enormous amount of statues, mostly of stone.

Genbu Shrine

Genbu Shrine is located north of the Imperial palace in Kyoto and was one of the 4 shrines for protection of the palace. It was built in the ninth century and originally enshrined a favorite sword of Prince Koretaka, a son of Emperor Montoku.

The name Genbu refers to the guardian animal of this direction, commonly represented as a turtle entwined by a snake.

The shrine is host on the second sunday of April to the Yasuraibana Matsuri based on hanashizume festivals which were held to ward of plagues.

There are two secondary shrines in the grounds, one to Inari and one to Miwa Myojin which is another name for the Miwa deity Okuninushi.

The tallest torii in japan

This really is the tallest torii in Japan, located in the town of Tanabe City in the mountains of wakayama.

It is made of steel and is 33.9 meters tall. It weighs 172 tons, and the top lintel is 42 meters wide.

The torii stands at the entrance to the original site of the Hongu Taisha Shrine that stood for more than 1,000 years on a sandbar where several rivers meet. In 1889 a disastrous flood destroyed the shrine and it was moved to its present hilltop site a few hundred meters away.

The torii and the associated hrine and the pilgrimage routes to the three Kumano shrines are now all a World Heritage Site.

Nagi Moca, "Moon"

The Museum of Contemporary Art in the tiny town of Nagi in Okayama is a unique collaboration between architect and artist. The building entitled "Moon" is by architect Arata Isozaki and artist Kazuo Okazaki.

 

The name "Moon" refers to the orientation of the building, a long narrow shape composed of an arc and a straight line. The line points towards the moon at 10pm on the Autumnal Equinox.

 

The artwork is titled "Hisashi that which supplements" and is composed of 2 small sculptures on the flat wall and 2 curved granite benches along the curved wall.

 

It is a large minimal space filled with light. Hisashi is a Japanese word for eaves and refers to the sculptures which are made by pouring plaster so it overhangs an edge, and when dry is then hung on the wall.

 

The other two architectural installations that make up the museum are Earth, and Sun.

Kenkun Shrine

Kenkun Shrine, also known as Takeisao Shrine, is located on a small hill, Funaoka Yama, in the northeast of Kyoto.

With its roofs of cedar bark shingles, the shrine looks to be old, but in fact was not founded until 1880. It enshrines the great warlord Oda Nobunaga.

The shrine is very much a part of State Shinto, the emperor-centric religion created in the Meiji era. Many of the old Japanese heroes who were considered to have been imperial loyalists were enshrined at this time, as well as Nobunaga, Toyotomi was also enshrined in Kyoto at Toyokuni Shrine.

This is an Onusa, a purification wand used in all ceremonies.

There were several smaller shrines on the hillside, including this Inari Shrine.

Manhole Fish

This is the manhole cover for Nishinoshima, one of the islands that make up the Oki Islands. I know a squid is not a fish, but its close enough.

Masuda down in the southwest of Shimane has the Takatsu River and I'm guessing these are carp.

This is from Taki Town up in Izumo and its hard to tell from the design exactly which fish it is meant to be, could be flying fish or it could be an Orca.

Fukuura is a village on the Shimane Peninsular and now a part of Mihonoseki. The fish is probably a Sea Bream (tai) as Kotoshironushi, popularly known as Ebisu, used to enjoy fishing for Tai here.

The draincover for Mihonoseki also features the Tai.

Another one from Masuda, and these look like Ayu, called Sweetfish in English. The Takatsu River is a popular place fro Ayu fishing.

Not sure which town this belongs to, but it was on the banks of the Shimanto River in Ehime, Shikoku. They might also be Ayu.