Hiroshige Ando Museum - Kuma Kengo

On this Christmas eve, B and I decided we would embark on a three hour journey to our professors most highly acclaimed building; The Hiroshige Ando Museum. Starting early and after a long night in front of the screen, we both nodded in and out of consciousness throughout the journey. Nonetheless, the weather was fresh and clear which provided us great views of a a snow capped mount Fuji and surrounding mountainous ranges when our eyes were open. This again immediately sparked my memories of the Annapurna region in Nepal.

It has become increasingly clearer to me just how significant my experience was in India and Nepal.

We finally reached the building in the small town of Bato. The approach to the museum is a key element of the Kuma's design. Set at the foot of a small mountain, the large opening draws you towards the base of the steps towards the towns Shinto shrine hidden in mountain woods. Kuma professed during a lecture last week that his intention was use the museum as a vessel to draw visitors to both the shrine and the exquisite artwork inside. We took various photographs of the exterior and entry foyer for at least two hours. We discussed the detailing, philosophy and play of light like two archi students do...tragic really...however this building really does deserve proper attention. The layering of timber and aluminum slats, large sheets of glass and the exposed steel members make for a highly layered, ephemeral and reflective structure overall. I was pleasantly surprised at how robust , and dare I say crude at times, the structure was up close despite its achieved appearance being relentlessly crisp. Hiroshige's Ukiyo prints were a pleasure to see and building fittingly took backstage where it was required in the modestly sized exhibition spaces. It was getting on mid afternoon so B and I decided to head to the gift shop...oh boy. I ended up buying up big on hand reproduced prints: four of Hiroshige and two of Hokusai. We sat down at the museum restaurant for a delicious buckwheat soba lunch and I went the whole nine yards by ordering the locally roasted specialty coffee as well (Saza Coffee). Damn it was good.

B and I then made our way up the mountain to the Shrine. At this point it was 4:30 and the sun was descending quickly behind the distant mountains. The yellow warmth draped over the roof of the museum and filtered through the tall trees further up the path. It genuinely felt great to be there and the thought of heading back to grey Tokyo was not so appealing. Nonetheless as night well and truly fell we heading to the bus stop and on the way I picked up the last sad looking Christmas cake from a local sweet shop (my desperate attempt to spark some festive spirit). I snoozed all the way back to Tokyo, cheerfully parted ways with B at Ueno and disappeared into the Yamanote line crowd.