Kitakyushu Central Library

Kitakyushu Central Library

The Kitakyushu Central Library is located in Kokura not far from Kokura Castle.

It is one of those buildings that in model form, or seen from the air, is quite striking, but when viewed from the ground is not so impressive and its form is not so clear.

However, from the interior, it is all much clearer.

It opened in 1974 and was designed by prize-winning Kyushu native Arata Isozaki and is often considered one of his most important earlier works.

The interior features pre-cast concrete barrel vaulting and fan vaulting and is said to have been inspired by the 18th-century design for the French national Library by Etienne Louis Boullee.

The building also houses the Kitakyushu Museum of Literature which has changing and permanent exhibits relating to more than 30 writers who have connections with Kitakyushu, including Mori Ogai, and Seicho Matsumoto, who has a whole museum devoted to him nearby.

Arata Isozaki 1933 - 2022

Arata Isozaki 1933 - 2022

The famous Japanese architect Arata Isozaki passed away on December 28th, 2022.

Born in Oita, Kyushu, in 1933, he studied at Tokyo University and then worked under Kenzo Tange for a few years before opening his own office.

His earliest works seem heavily influenced by Brutalism and Metabolist styles, though his later works utilized many different styles. His works have been built all over Asia, Europe, and the USA.

He won the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Prize in 2019.

I quite like his work and have seen many of his buildings here in Western Japan.

The top photo is the Kitakyushu City Museum of Art 1972-74. I have visited it several times and will do a post on it soon. The second photo is from his hometown of Oita and was the Oita Prefectural Library which opened in 1966. After closing down it was converted into an arts centre called Art Plaza. I have 2 posts on it, one of the exterior, and a second of the interiors. The Art Plaza contains a gallery of Isozakis architectural drawings and models, so is worth a visit.

The third photo is part of the Kitakyushu International Conference Centre in Kokura, Adjacent to it is an earlier work, the West Japan General Exhibition Centre, a massive building and the photo above shows the structure that holds the roof up. The fourth photo is from the Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art in rural Okayama. Very unusual in that each of the three main buildings were designed in collaboration with artists who created the works within, including Isozaki's own wife. The three buildings I posted earlier are called Sun, Earth, and Moon. The fifth photo is part of the curved roof of the Yamaguchi Centre for Arts & Media. 

The sixth photo is also from Yamaguchi and is part of the very rural Akiyoshidai International Arts Village. I will do a full post on it soon, and I will also do a full post on the Kitakyushu City Central Library, pictured above. The final photo is the JR station at the onsen resort of Yufuin, one of Isozaki's smaller projects.

Taketomi Island Water Buffalo

At several places around the Okinawan Islands you can ride in a cart drawn by Water Buffalo, but the most well known is I think the island of Taketomi.

The water buffalo was domesticated about 5,000 years ago in India and about 4,000 years ago in southern China, which is probably where Okinawa got them from.

Taketomi Island is quite small with just a few hundred inhabitants living in the one village of Taeketomi, a Histroical Preservation District of Historic Buildings with traditional streets of sand lined with stone walls.

Almost every house has a red tile roof, but that is a modern phenomenon that started in 1905 because traditionally commoners were not allowed tile roofs, rather they were thatched.

Ishigaki Sea Salt

Inside Art Plaza

The former Prefectural Library in Oita City, originally constructed in 1966, was converted, under the direction of the original architect Arata Isozaki, in 1996 to the Art Plaza.

Entry is free and various exhibitions and performances take place there.

On the second floor are rooms devoted to the architectural works of Arata Isozaki, including plans, drawings, photos, and models.

This model shows another library designed by Isozaki, this one in Kitakyushu.

Arata Isozaki Art Plaza

One of my favorite Japanese architects is Arata Isozaki. He was born in Oita in 1931 and after graduating worked under Kenzo Tange.

The first building he completed after becoming independent was the Prefectural Library in his home town of Oita, completed in 1996.

In 1996 the library moved to a new building, but rather than demolish the original it was renovated by Isozaki himself and turned into an arts center called Art Plaza.

One floor of the building is devoted to the works of Isozaki and include models and drawings of some of his more famous buildings.....

Kyushu Pilgrimage Day 11 Beppu to Oita

This is somewhat how I felt on the morning of my eleventh day of walking around Kyushu. After 2 days of miserable, grey, drizzly weather, the sky was clear and blue. The statue is of Kumahachi Aburaya, the entrepeneur who put Beppu on the tourist map and was to a large extent responsible for modern Japanese tourism....

Heading south out of Beppu I took lots of shots of the colorful manhole covers of the town before stopping in at the big Hachiman Shrine with its pair of giant cedars.

After heading down the coast I cut inland to get to Yusuhara Hachimangu, the major shrine of the area and home to a set of fantatsic carvings adorning the main gate,... from there downhill all the way into the outskirts of Oita City.

At Funai castle ruins I caught this married couple having their wedding photos taken among the cherry blossoms. Nearby was an older building designed by Oita native Arata Isozaki that now contains a small museum of his models and drawing which was a real delight.

I then headed to the hills to te south of the city center where there were some older temples, shrines, & Buddhist carvings.....

Revisiting Kitakyushu International Conference Center

At the end of my fifth day of walking along the Kyushu 108 Sacred Sites Pilgrimage I was in Kokura, somewhere I had visited several times before.

However, it was a different day, a different season, and a different time, so I revisited some of the interesting places to see if I could get some good shots.

In general I quite like the architecture of Arata Isozaki, and being a Kyushu native himself there are several examples in the area, including the Kitakyushu International Conference Center.

Built in 1990, it has a nice combination of curves and non perpendicular angles as well as bright colors.

A Walk Around Kyushu Day 5

Following a miserable and rainy fourth day, day 5 was back to glorious weather. I didn't have too far to walk today, just from Yahata to Kokura.

There were 2 pilgrimage temples to visit, and a major shrine which was unexpected. With the afternoon free I visited a few places "on assignment" for Japanvisitor,com.

I took the train out to Mojiko and visited the Kyushu Railway Museum there, and then headed back to Kokura to revisit some architectural sights that interest me.

First up there was the International Conference Center by Arata Isozaki, somewhere I have posted about before

And then through the concrete jungle to the iconic Riverwalk Complex,

It was the 29th of December and so I broke my walk and headed home for a few days to spen new year with my wife before coming back a week later to continue with the next leg of my 2,200 kilometer walk.

Nagi Moca: Sun

The third and final section of the unique museum in Nagi is called "Sun" and is basically a huge cylinder set on a north south axis.

 

The artwork contained within is titled "heart" and is by artists Shusuka Arakawa and Madeline Gins. Entry into the cylinder is via a small room underneath. The walls are covered with photographic portraits by local residents of Nagi. A dark, enclosed spiral staircase leads up....

 

The interior of the cylinder is somewhat disorienting and playful, and at first the bright light from the end makes everything a silhouette and not at all clear. As one walks up to the end and look back it all becomes clearer.

 

The room contains a model of the famous zen garden from Ryoan-ji in Kyoto but also includes a reflection of it with radial symmetry, not mirror symmetry. 

The Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art in the mountains of Okayama is a unique experience created through a collaboration of the famous architect Arata Isozaki and several artists. The other two sections are called Earth, and Moon.