Japan Niigata prefecture travel tourism guide - Enjoy Niigata

Since the year 2000, an event called the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial has taken place every three years in the southwestern part of Niigata prefecture known as the Tsumari region. Those who have had the chance to visit the Triennial can agree that it is truly an indescribable event. To understand how special the festival is, one must see it in person. The name may sound like your run-of-the-mill art event, but the Triennial combines the natural beauty of rural Japan and the traditional Japanese mountain way of life with dynamic installations and works of art made by creative minds from across Japan and all over the world.

On a beautiful day in September 2006, I had the opportunity to join 18 English Teachers on the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program from in and around Niigata prefecture for a special opportunity. The Niigata Prefecture Tourism Promotion Division and Art Front Gallery, two of the event sponsors, were kind enough to put together a special two-day bus tour for our group. This tour was special because it was all in English, thanks to the hard work of our tour guide, who was also one of the festival curators. Because of our guide’s fluent English and first-hand knowledge of the Triennial’s hot spots, we were able to gain special insight into the event not available to your average visitor.

After gathering at Echigo-Yuzawa train station,we boarded the bus for our weekend adventure.The first thing that hit me was the breathtaking surroundings. The Yuzawa area is famous as a ski resort in winter, attracting visitors from all over the country. The towering mountains and crystal clear blue sky made it apparent why it is such a popular tourist destination.

Setting off on the bus, we drove through the mountains for a while before reaching our first objective. We went through many tunnels, sharp curves, and sloping roads before arriving at a small rural community in the mountains of the Tokamachi area. “How pretty!”, I thought, “But where is the art?”. We got off of the bus, and walked through the village. It was certainly a typical sight in the Japanese countryside, rows of dilapidated buildings with almost nobody around save for a few old grandmothers working in their vegetable gardens. Just when I was starting to wonder where they were taking us, we were directed into one of the old houses. To my surprise, the inside of the house itself was being transformed into a work of art with construction on all sides. The work was called “Koide House” by artists Soda Ide and Toshiya Takahama. It was meant to make a statement on the depopulation and aging of rural Japan. As I would learn later in the weekend, projects like this were going on all other the Tsumari area to revitalize abandoned buildings by turning them into art projects. In this house, one could see little work tables everywhere where you could design your own crafts and write your own messages. You could also climb the ladder into the attic and get a glimpse of what seemed to be a little toy mountain village!

After leaving the village we traveled a short distance into downtown Tokamachi. We parked by one of the local elementary schools to see a very interesting contraption next door. There was a reconstruction of the side of a house, but it was on the ground. What is more is that there was a giant mirror hanging at an angle above it. When you sat on the house it gave the illusion that you were falling or climbing the wall! Of course, this was one of the most popular works for children, as it was interactive and fun. The installation was designed by Argentinean Leondro Erlich to resemble a typical house of the Tsumari region.

Soon it was time for lunch, and our group was brought to a traditional restaurant called Kojiya to be treated to a lunch of hegi-soba, a specialty of the Tsumari region. Hegi-soba is a variation on the normal Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles, with a special seaweed ingredient that gives the noodles a unique green color. Hegi-soba is usually eaten cold in large amounts as a group out of big wooden boxes, often with tempura and a special dipping sauce. The hegi-soba we had that day was especially fresh, and together with the hot tea our group was able to re-energize for the rest of the afternoon to come.

After lunch we traveled to the “Butterfly Pavilion”, a work by the French artist Dominique Perrault. The pavilion was located on the shore of a quiet little mountain pond, and was very beautiful. I was told that during the Triennial the pavilion was also used for traditional Noh performances, surprising to me as the pavilion itself looked quite modern. It really highlighted the mixture of modern and traditional that the Triennial is all about.

Next was a small teahouse which had been transformed into a miniature gallery for ceramics and other artworks. The different pieces were scattered around the shop, while customers sat and partook in the local special teas and snacks, including different kinds of sansai (mountain vegetables). I didn’t have any myself since I was still full from the hegi-soba lunch, but admiring the artwork was a good enough reason to enter. There were even pieces in the bathroom!

Over the course of Saturday afternoon, we traveled through many winding roads and mountain paths, and our eyes were treated to a wide array of fascinating designs and artistic ideas. There is one piece in particular that really stuck in my memory. After climbing up one particular hill, we came across a quiet little pond. Floating in the pond were trays with beautiful clay vases on top, in a work called “Spiral Walk” by Chiyoko Todaka.

Once the tour finished up for the day, we were taken to the House of Light, our lodgings for the evening. Designed by American artist James Turrell, the House of Light is a traditional Japanese guest house with many interesting features making use of different elements of light and shadow. Upon arrival, we were all treated to a marvelous traditional obento dinner, including fresh locally brewed sake. As the sun began to set, we gathered in the sleeping area to see a special light show, where the roof opens and the room’s lights slowly change to match with the setting sun. It was quite an experience.

After boarding the bus on Sunday morning, our first stop was a small mountain village in Tokamachi’s Kawanishi area. Hidden away within the village was an old house that had been transformed into an ikebana museum. The works displayed inside the museum were not traditional ikebana, but instead creations utilizing ikebana principles to form modern works of art. Each piece was made of natural materials such as flowers, branches, and grasses, but looked distinctly different from what one might think of as ikebana. Upon leaving the museum, while walking down the street we saw a huge crowd of people dragging a cedar tree through town. We were told that this was a traditional ritual to honor a newly born child in the village. The chance to see traditional village life, combined with the modern art we had just seen, was really what this weekend was all about.

On Sunday morning, the highlight was surely a work called “The Heart’s Flowers”- a garden of small flowers made of tiny glass beads spread around the woods near a mountain village.

One of the major attractions of the festival was the “noh-butai” in Matsudai. The name is a play on words: a noh-butai is usually a stage for noh theater, but in this case noh is the Japanese word for agriculture, highlighting the focus on rice farming in the area. At the noh-butai, we were treated to a lunch of organic vegetarian fare, including rice balls and traditional sansai (mountain vegetable) dishes native to the Tsumari region.

In and around the noh-butai was a wide array of artworks. In front of the entrance was what looked like a scrap junkyard, but was actually a piece called the “World Energy System” by Toshihiko Okabe. Each piece of metal could be played like an instrument, making it a playground of sound. One of my favorites was a classroom with all the walls, floor, desks, and materials inside covered with blackboard material. People could come into the classroom and draw all over, leaving their personal messages about the festival. This attraction was particularly popular with children.

After leaving the noh-butai, we were taken to another abandoned mountain house. This time, the house had been turned into a project by the Nihon University College of Art called the “House of Shedding”. All of the walls and pillars of the house had been meticulously chipped away at with an engraving knife by students and alumni of the college. All over were fascinating designs made in the woodwork, with not a single space left unmarked. It gave me the image of the work of a madman, and I could not imagine how much time it must have taken for the entire design to be completed.

Our final stop on the tour was one that made a great finale to a terrific two days. The work was called “Mountain”, and was by British sculptor Richard Deacon, and was appropriately on top of a mountain! It took us quite a while to get to the top by bus, but the wait was worth it. Once we reached the top, we saw the abstract “Mountain” along with a breathtaking view of all the mountains and valleys of the Tsumari region. Here, we were able to take a great group picture.
 

Although the weekend was my first to the Tsumari area, I sincerely hope it is not my last. The Art Triennial only happens for a few months once every three years, however many of the artworks are left standing year-round. In addition, the natural beauty of the area is enough to draw visitors by itself. For these reasons, I think that this area is really an overlooked part of Niigata prefecture. Although it has had its problems with recent natural disasters and underpopulation, events such as the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial give hope that there can be rejuvenation for the region in the years to come.