The second day of my Naoshima adventure dawned clear and sunny, nary a snowflake in sight. Our guesthouse came with "breakfast," which was a piece of bread with margarine and jam and a soft-boiled egg. Fortunately the guesthouse's kitchen came with a toaster, so at least the bread wasn't plain, but "hearty" this meal was not.
After eating, Troy and I hopped back on our trusty bikes and pedaled off down the coast towards the Benesse House Museum. Troy kindly pedaled at a pace I was comfortable with, so even I was able to glance off to the side now and again and take in the sparkling blue water of the Seto Inland Sea.
The Benesse House Museum is basically what it sounds like--a combo hotel and museum, also designed by Tadao Ando. It's situated on an outcropping overlooking the water, with gorgeous views, but is mindbogglingly expensive. (Even during "off season," rooms are over $2,000 per NIGHT. Madness.) Fortunately, the museum is open to everyone, not just hotel patrons.
But before you even get to the museum, there are quite a few outdoor sculptures scattered around the garden and nearby beach, including the iconic--possibly Naoshima's most recognizeable work of art--yellow "Pumpkin" (1994) by Yayoi Kusama.
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| A beach side Shinto torii gate. |
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| "Frog and Cat," Karel Appel (1990). |
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| "Le Banc," Niki de Saint Phalle (1989). |
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| "100 Live and Die," Bruce Nauman (1984) |
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| Me, featuring some of Kan Yasuda's 1996 "The Secret of the Sky" |
After a thorough exploration of the Benesse House Museum, Troy and I headed back to Honmura, parking our bikes before checking out Art House Project. Art House Project is a constantly evolving series of works, where empty houses scattered throughout the Honmura residential neighborhood are turned into works of art. Right now there are seven such "art houses," six that you can just walk up and see, and one that requires reservation in advance since only one person can enter at a time (unfortunately the weekend was already booked-up, so we couldn't see it).
In order to visit them all, you have to wander throughout the neighborhood on foot (the streets are too narrow for biking, really, and there's no place to park them), so you interact with the area and the people you meet, rather than simply shuttling yourself from one tourist spot to the next. And, at some level, the act of walking from house to unassuming house makes you feel like you're also a local, just going about your day.
Unfortunately I don't have photos of all six houses we did visit because (again) no photos were allowed (technically) and most places were small enough and closely monitored enough that this was essentially an enforceable ban. But I do have a few exterior shots.
This unassuming black structure ("Minamidera") was definitely my favorite of all the Art House Project structures. Designed by Tadao Ando specifically for a work by James Turrell, the experience is masterful. I really don't want to write much about it because it truly would ruin the art to know about the "surprise" in advance, but suffice to say you will never look at darkness, light, and your own vision the same way ever again.
"Kadoya," (1998) the first such "art house," is a restored 200-year-old structure. It houses (ha, ha) "Sea of Time '98" by Tatsuo Miyajima, a work of art that has timers of varying colors and speeds, each set by a Naoshima resident, placed in a pool of water and endlessly looping from numbers 1-9.
"Haisha," which means dentist in Japanese, is a really bizarre and eclectic building. The entire structure is like a giant collage, cobbling together parts of other buildings, sculpture, paint, paper, and even a two-story fake Statue of Liberty.
And lastly (at least for the buildings I have photos of) is the Go'o Shrine. When the Edo Period (1603-1868) shrine was being restored, artist Hiroshi Sugimoto built a flight of glass stairs that connect the shrine building with a tomb-like underground chamber. You're given a flashlight and allowed to enter the subterranean room, which is only accessible by a passageway so narrow you essentially have to turn sideways and scootch your way in. Not for the claustrophobic.
The other houses I did not photograph are Kinza, Ishibashi, and Gokaisho. Though to be perfectly honest, Ishibashi and Gokaisho were the least interesting of the bunch, so not missing much on that front.
After a brief coffee and chocolate cake break, Troy and I checked out one last, bizarre, functional work of art: "I♥︎湯 "
Read as "I-heart-you," the title is a bit of a pun since "yu/ゆ/湯" in Japanese means "hot water," and sento (public baths) and onsen often have signs with just the hiragana character, ゆ, to indicate what they are.
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| You can see the ゆ in red. |
Yes, that is a giant elephant. And a bizarre mosaic tile thing. And who the heck knows what else. What surprised me was how unabashedly erotic the art was. The bottom of the soaking pool, for example, showed a bunch of shunga (erotic Japanese woodblock prints) that were more explicit than most soft-core porn. And children were in here! (Though they didn't seem to pay much attention to what they were sitting on; the ones in the women's side were more interested in the elephant, fortunately.)
And at night the sento lights up like (frankly) some sort of bordello. It's great.
And that about wraps up our Naoshima trip! I'm so happy to finally have made it here after several years of wanting to come. In the future, I want to return and check out Teshima and Inujima, which also have equally amazing art installations. But if I had any tips for first-time Naoshima visitors, here's what I would say:
1. Rent your bicycles in advance. We reserved online through TVC Service, which has a convenient pick-up station right by Miyanoura Port, and had no problems whatsoever.
2. Also, reserve your slot for the Chichu Art Museum and Art House Project's "Kinza" in advance.
3. Bring some light snacks. There are plenty of options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but if you are the sort of person who gets peckish at 11 p.m., you'll need to have your own food. There are a few grocery stores, but they're not really close to the major tourist hubs, and I don't remember seeing a convenience store on the island at all...
4. To the food end, it might be easier to stay in the Miyanoura Port area, rather than Honmura. Not only does that make getting to and from your guest house an easy prospect, most of the bike rental services have their primary branches in Miyanoura. There are also more late-night-ish dinner options.
5. Give yourself at least two full days for your trip to see everything at a leisurely pace. I wish I could have stayed for three, because I would DEFINITELY have gone over to Teshima. You can get there via Miyanoura Port, but there are only a few boats to and from the island a day, so you can't just pop over for an hour or so and return, you really have to commit an entire day.
6. Go during the off-season if you can. It was busy, but not crowded, and I've heard pseudo-horror stories about how packed the island can be during popular travel periods like Golden Week and Obon. But note that for a few weeks in January just about every museum shuts down for maintenance, so check online to make sure everything is open before you plan your trip.
7. Wear clothes and shoes conducive to biking. Will you short skirt and heels look good in photos? Yes. Will they make for a comfortable biking experience? No, no they will not. Think practical, people!
8. Bring cash, both bills and some 100-yen coins. . Most of the family-run restaurants only take cash, and the shuttle bus (which is a flat 100 yen for adults) only takes 50 or 100 yen coins.
And that concludes the Claire (and Troy) adventure on Naoshima!
Where will I travel to next... 23/47 prefectures down, just about halfway there!
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