Just Looking

Actually, the jet lag hasn't been bad for me but poor Kate and Rog have been suffering. Sunday night was pretty short for them and we had to get an early-ish start.

We were heading for Uno, courtesy of our Japan Rail Passes, to make that a base for a visit to two 'art islands' which I'd tried to see 

on my last trip - but a typhoon stymied that. The one place I really wanted to see was shut on Tuesday and the weather forecast for Wednesday, being dismal rain all day, we wanted to get there by Monday afternoon whilst the sun shone.

So it was Shinkansen from Kyoto then two local trains. A lovely girl from our traditional guesthouse met us at Uno port, relieved us of our baggage, provided us with maps and timetables and - thus - by half past one we were on the ferry, bobbing across the Japanese inland sea to Teshima Island.

We were blessed with sun and warmth and also the beautiful sight of the islands rising mistily from the water as we made our way to Teshima. It made the traditional ink paintings and woodblock prints of such landscapes totally real....

I'd heard of the art museum at a lecture in an Oxfordshire garden two summers ago...and although it sounded an experience not to be missed, I wasn't exactly sure what it would be like. It actually exceeded our expectations.

A low dome of white concrete nestles into a hillside. It's punctured by two large oval openings which 
allow in light, air and weather. Indeed the creators - an artist (Rei Naito) and an architect  (Ryue
Nishizawa) - call it a 'fusion of the environment, art and architecture' hoping ' these three elements work together as a single entity'. But it's more than that. Yes, the enveloping structure is a kind of building but it's more like being within a sculpture. And as you traverse the space the contours and the light change with each new perspective. Glimpses of trees, hillside and sky are framed by the curved openings. Strung across each opening is a gossamer - like white ribbon that billows in the air, creating a moving curve that mirrors the static one of the opening.

The concrete has a velvety patina and the most engaging experience in the place is of water - that runs and pools upon the floor. So difficult to describe - it's as though it has animate life. Water bubbles through tiny holes in the floor and creates mercury-like beads of moisture upon the surface, which, once they reach a critical mass move down the shallow curve of the floor - sometimes as a thin silver trail, sometimes dividing like a family of small lizards as they make their way to the lowest point and coalesce. The surface tension on the larger pools of water makes them appear like sheets of mirror with a deep curved edge.

The loveliest part is that no one is allowed to take in a camera - and silence is fostered. So the experience is quiet and calm and people really look;it would be easy to watch for a long time - the variety of movement in the water droplets alone seems infinite. People walk, stand, sit, kneel, squat or lie - watching the moving water with full attention.

So, the only photos were of the cafe and reception areas to give a sense of the style of the architecture