Mihoko Koyama, the heiress to the Toyobo textile business, and one of the wealthiest women in Japan, dabbled in religion by establishing the Shinji Shumeikai spiritual movement in the 1970s and then, in the 1990s, decided to showcase her collection of art in a museum and hired I.M. Pei
to design something in the mountains near Kyoto, Japan.The result is
the Miho Museum, about which I have mixed feelings. Positively a
wonderful architectural accomplishment and beautifully embedded in
natural surroundings, especially when the cherry trees are blossoming - a
display so impressive that critical detachment is overwhelmed. On the
other hand, the contents of the museum are not enough to justify a
special journey. And the marshaling of so much money and engineering to
achieve natural modesty seems bizarre to me. So, when the day at the
Miho is recollected in tranquility I have to say "Go there only when the
cherry blossoms are in bloom."
On the other hand, the half hour spent sheltering from the rain under the thatched eaves and peeking into the little hut in Arashiyama called the Rakushisha Residence that belonged to the 17th century haiku poet Mukai Kyorai and where his teacher, the immortal poet Basho Matsuo visited, left an impression which grows in the memory and still gives pleasure without reservation.
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| Arriving from Kyoto after a 30-minute trainride and a 50-minute bus connection you have the option of walking a half-mile to the museum or using their electric car. |
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| Walking is the obvious option when the blooming cherry trees border the road for a quarter-mile. |
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| Leading to a shiny tunnel |
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| And a suspension bridge with the museum entrance beyond. |
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| Through the doors |
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| Into a lobby with a fine nature panorama beyond, including her spiritual center in the distance. |
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| The grounds are well tended. |
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| Tree branches are beautifully supported. |
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| The walk back is also beautiful. |
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| The entrance to the poet's hut in Arashiyama |
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| Old-fashioned coat and hat, hanging on an outside wall |
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| Interior |
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| The thatched roof which sheltered us from the rain. |
