Opened in 2007 in a former community centre in Shimojo, the library holds the research on the rural houses of Akiyama gathered over fifty years by master builder Tanaka Fumio, staged in 2009 by the artist Yamamoto Sotaro with an installation of books lit in seven colours.
The collection documents Tanaka Fumio's study of minka, traditional wooden houses, in the mountainous Akiyama region. The building that houses it was originally the premises of a community centre, converted for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale. Yamamoto Sotaro's installation sets the real books of the collection beside prop books lit in seven colours, to hold the ordinary and the extraordinary in tension.
A venue of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, opened in 2007 in the former premises of a community centre (公民館) in Shimojo, in the municipality of Tokamachi (address: 十日町市下条1-325, 〒949-8603). It houses the book collection donated by Tanaka Fumio, a master builder known for his studies of the traditional wooden rural houses (minka) of the Akiyama area, gathered over about fifty years of research. In 2009 the artist Yamamoto Sotaro created there an installation of books lit in seven colours, which places display elements beside real books to make the eye waver between the everyday and the extraordinary. A separate source reports that the works ‘天の光、地の光II’ and ‘農具の時間’ (the latter with farming tools suspended in mid-air) have also been shown in the same space.
ℹ️ Opening hours: 10:00–17:00, reduced to 10:00–16:00 from October to November. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (except public holidays) and during the winter season. Tickets: adults 600 yen, children/elementary and junior high school students (ages 6–15) 300 yen. The official page states that opening is currently irregular, run by the local community: check the calendar before you go.
🚉 上新田 · 4 min walk
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