Museums at Ueno Park

On the next morning I set out for my first experience on the metro system. As I reached the station, I noticed the cleanliness of the city everywhere, and the orderliness of people, who queue for everything without complaining. When I arrived at the Ueno station, I thought I needed to turn southwest to reach the museums. That led me through an entertainment alley, which was fun to see, but after a while I thought it would be more prudent to ask for directions to the park.

The first building is a building unmistakeably by LeCorbusier, a performance hall.

When you see the concrete detailing and the upturned building edge, you recognize Corbu's style.

A ramp to the performance hall.

I kept walking...

Then saw a group of young girls

headed for this museum...

I reached the Tokyo National Museum complex.

It really consists of a series of buildings.

The one that most interested me in seeing was the gallery of Horyuji Treasures by Taneguchi. It's a jewel of a pavilion - very light. It's a building popular with architects, who would like to achieve the same lightness in their buildings.

Most doors in public buildings open sideways, as if they were soji screens opening automatically.

A reading room

I saw a girl photographing the railing in this stair. I had seen a similar photograph taken my my colleague Mel when he was here 4 years ago. I commented to the girl that she was probably an architect, because she was noticing the details. She smiled and nodded.

The exhibit consisted of small Buddhist statues of Shakyamuni and Bottisatvas. They dated from the 7th century and because of their small size where believed to be used for private worship in families.

Walking behind this neoclassical building

I noticed they created this contemporary class structure in the back to provide handicapped access.

I then reached this addition to the main museum building.

It had archaeological displays

and a traditional tea house in the back.

It connected to the main structure, with windows such as this one.

There was a special exhibit describing the path of Buddhism from India to China, to Korea and Japan as exhibited in art.

I had read a book recently on the origins in China of Zen Buddhism, so this exhibit reinforced what I read.

How the Buddha is depicted regarding robes and facial features is a clue to it's origins. The below was a very early depiction of Shakyamuni.

Tang Dynasty Buddhism produced symmetrical compositions

This is a copy of a statue of Avalokitesvara Bottisatva, in a male incarnation, as he's usually known in Japanese Zen. In China he's usually shown in the female incarnation as Guanyin.

I then headed to the International Library of Children's Literature, a building which Tadao Ando renovated and to which he made a contemporary addition.

This is the model of the building, showing the front with its new glass entrance.

The back has gallery, stairs, restrooms and a restaurant.

The elegantly scaled entrance

The back side. I enjoyed lunch there. When I worked on planning an addition to a historic building in San Francisco, I researched extensively on projects such as this, where a sensitive addition is done in a contemporary style. This addition was done with principles similar followed in the US when making an addition to a historic building. The point is not to imitate the original style, but let the addition show the style of the generation in which it is done.

In the patio, there is a folly and stairs. I could not help but see a reference to Frank Lloyd Wright in the laying out of the masonry. His Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, now demolished, was admired. Asians in general have a great admiration for FLW's architecture. And FLW, conversely, had a great love of Japanese architecture because of it's scale and openness to nature. He treasured his collection of Japanese prints depicting nature scenes.

On the way back to the metro station, I saw people seated waiting for a performance.

There was also a big line at a booth giving food for the homeless. Dessert was ice cream.