{Inter} Cultural Japan

The Himeji Museum of Literature is a case of a Japanese museum where the building is much more impressive than what it contains. But as that building is one of the masterpieces of modern architect Ando Tadao, it certainly is worth a visit, if only for the architecture. There are many literature museums in Japan - for example, a local one in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward and others in Kamakura and Yokohama. But while most great Japanese authors of the 20th century seem to have had a house in Setagaya’s suburbia (thereby meriting inclusion in the Setagaya Museum), of the nine authors featured in the Himeji Museum I only knew the cultural philosopher Watsuji Tetsuro (1889-1960).

The other problem of a literature museum is what to exhibit. Literature is not visually exciting. There are books and manuscripts, and more of the same; and personal effects ranging from clothes to desks and writing utensils. The best thing in the Himeji museum is the Harima Mandala, a colorful panel display about literature in Hyogo prefecture in past and present. So far I have only been writing about the museum’s northern hall; the newer southern hall is dedicated to the popular historical fiction author, Shiba Ryotaro (1923-1996), of whom the novel The Last Shogun : The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu has been translated into English. But here, too, the items on display are not very thrilling, except the copy of the enormous book case of the author.

But the buildings are great! They stand 500 meters from Himeji castle, at the foot of Otokoyama Hill, in a residential district. Ando has tried to find a harmony between the museum and the distant view of the castle. Between the two museum buildings is a garden with a man-made pond cascading down a sort of staircase. In front of the main hall, it is spanned by a narrow foot bridge. The northern (main) building consists of two overlapping cubes; one of the cubes is surrounded by a cylinder. There are ramps on the curving sides of the walls and inside is a three-story void, creating a dynamic space.

The rectangular southern hall has long, curving corridors of naked concrete and unexpected, angular nooks with low windows and a view of the pond. As always in the case of Ando’s buildings, the bare concrete is warm in texture and soft to the touch. The architecture is a game of curves, angles and spatial tricks. Despite the heavy concrete, the rooms are unexpectedly light, thanks to narrow but long slits in the walls and strategically placed windows. It is the only concrete building I could live in (indeed, Ando has also created many private dwellings): Ando’s architecture has a decidedly human dimension.

Address: 84 Sannoi-cho, Himeji-shi, Hyogo-ken Tel. 0792-93-8228
Hours: 10:00-17:00 (from June to August: until 18:00). Cl. Monday, day after a national holiday, New Year season.
Access: A 25-min. walk from Himeji Station; 15-min. walk from Himeji castle.