Osaka Museum of History

 

The Osaka Museum of History is located to the SW of Osaka Castle.

It occupies the top floors of an elliptical tower 83 meters tall.

It was completed in 2001.

It shares an entrance in a shared atrium with the NHK building next door.

Both buildings were constructed at the same time.

It is said to have been designed by Cesar Pelli, though I can find no reference to it on the Pelli Associated website.

Pelli is more well known for his design of the Osaka Museum of Art. I will be posting on oy a little later.

My favorite Pelli building in Japan is the Kurayoshi Park Square in Tottori.

From the Museum of History there are great views across to Osaka Castle.

The previous post in this seriers on maodern architecture of Osaka was on Umeda Sky Building.

Ohashi House in Kurashiki

 

The Ohashi family were the richest merchant family in Kurashiki.

Their former property in the Bikan Historical Quarter, a Preservation District of Traditional Buildings, is open to the public as a museum.

Though techncally belonging to the merchant class, the lowest of the four classes in Edo Japan, Their residence was set back from the main road with a front garden area, an architectural style that belonged to the highest class, the Samurai.

The property was built in 1796 and includes numerous large storehouses, including one set up as a museum.

The rear of the property was the private family living quarters, and in the front and an area for business and guest accomodations.

The Ohashi family were earlier a samurai family who served the Toyotomi, but following their defeat chose to become merchants.

They traded in salt and rice promarily and later moved into banking and moneylending.

As the Edo Period progressed more and more samurai became poorer, and some merchants became richer, leading many of them to financially support the samurai and in return receive benefits of status.

The Bikan district of Kurashiki became the main port of the domain, though quite a distance from the sea, the canals and river enabled the transhioment of many good and products.

The previous post was on the gardens of the Ohashi House.

Gardens of the Ohashi House in Kurashiki

 

The Ohashi Family were a major merchant family in the Bikan district of Kurashiki.

Located on the edge of the Preservation District, their late 18th century property is open to the public and well worth a visit.

the gardens of their property are quite small and include a couple of really tiny enclosed gardens.

Originally a samurai family, their property is unusual for a merchant property in that it is set back from the street with a small front garden, something officially  only allowed for samurai.

The previous post in this series on day 7 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on Anyoji Temple, a major mountain temple complex to the north of Kurashiki.

Meteor Plaza

 

Meteor Plaza is located in the port of Shichirui on the Shimane Peninsuka. Now part ofMihonoseki which itself is now part of nMatsue City.

Its primary function is as a ferry terminal operating car ferries and high-speed ferries to the Oki Islands.

Meteor Plaza was designed by Shimane-born architect Shin Takamatsu and opened in 1995

As well as the ferry terminal the complex also houses a saltwater swimming pool and a museum and performance space, although I am unsure how often the pool opens nowadays.

The museum is devoted to the meteor that struck the earth a few kilometers away in 1992.

The cone of the structure represents the meteor's trajectory, and the weird curved shape is the shape of the meteor itself.

The meteor crashed  through a local house and embedded itself in the earth. The inhabitants, who were home at the time, didn't notice it until next morning as the night was very noisy with a thunderstorm

Inside the big space is a kind of auditorium that puts on a light show and a short movie about the meteor.

When we visited we were the only people there so it was kind of eerie.

The meteor itself is on display inside the cone structure. It weighs 6.8 kilos and is just over 25 cms long.

The architecture appeals to me and I have posted on many other Shin Takamatsu buildings, like his ferry terminal in Nagasaki, his public onsen in Tamatsukuri, a Buddhist Hall on a mountain, and of course, his Sand Museum in his hometown.

The curved interior of the performance space offered me plenty of opportunity for the kind of geometric abstract photos I am partial to...