Shinshōji — Zen Museum and Garden

A boat-shaped pavilion by Nawa Kōhei in the Zen temple, with 200 works by the eighteenth-century master Hakuin.

The ‘Kōtei’ pavilion is a boat-shaped volume wrapped in wood, the work of the sculptor Nawa Kōhei and his studio Sandwich, which you walk through in about 25 minutes amid light and water; the entrance building, ‘Shōtō’, is the work of the architect Fujimori Terunobu. The museum holds about 200 works by the Zen master Hakuin Ekaku (eighteenth century), a seventeenth-century building moved here stone by stone from Shiga Prefecture, and a reconstruction of Sen no Rikyū's tea rooms.

Zen temple with a museum of contemporary art and architecture, in the hilly inland area of Numakuma, Fukuyama. A Zen temple of the Rinzai school (Kennin-ji), in 2016 it opened the museum devoted to Zen thought through contemporary art and architecture; the ‘Kōtei’ pavilion was inaugurated in September 2016.

ℹ️ Open 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), closing days vary (check the calendar on the official site). Tickets: adults 1,500 yen, university/high school students 1,000 yen, junior high and elementary school students 500 yen.

Sources: szmg.jp · oniwa.garden · suumo.jp

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