Teshima Museum of Art

The Inner Sea has a somewhat Mediterranean feel and getting to the island of Teshima takes time. The Museum of Art, up among the rice fields (project by the architect Ruye Nishizawa and the artist Rei Naito), is able to restore one’s trust in the marriage of art and architecture, integrity of building with landscape. After being led around a hill by a winding path, on entering one starts to look where is the “art”. Then you look down to find it is the thing that made your sock wet, drops of water and small puddles on the concrete. Slowly treading, sitting or lying on the ground people watch the droplets ooze from the ground form innumerable patterns and occasionally being sucked inside. Art as a common experience, art as meditation. Voices of birds or rustling of the leaves sometimes enter the shell this light cave and resonate. Thin white ribbons are blowing in the wind. (There is no photo allowed inside as it would ruin the experience.)

Kumano Kodō

Kumano Kodō 熊野古道 are several ancient pilgrimage routes leading to Kumano Hongū Taisha, the centre of the Kumano religion. The religious significance of the Kumano region goes back to prehistoric times and therefore predates all modern religions in Japan. The area was, and still is, considered a place of physical healing.

In Mid-May, I walked the Kohechi trail 小辺路 and then to the waterfall of Nachi.
Walking roughly 100 km through the inland of the Kii peninsula was a wonderful way to experience the heart of the Japanese landscape: up and down the steep hills, through hinoki forests, with only brief sights of the horizon. Amazing plants, a Buddha statue or a haiku stele here and there. The memory of thousands of pilgrims of the past days, remainders of ancient teahouses, overgrown by forest. But the path is well kept.