Noguchi’s Garden in Mure

Originally written on Christmas Eve 2005

I am in Takamatsu near where the JPN/American sculptor, furniture maker, interior and stage designer, Isamu Noguchi had a studio. Since his death in 1988, his Japan atelier has been transformed into a museum

Tonight, I plan to stay two hours away in Osaka; but. I have not yet made hotel reservations. Unlike in Christian countries where families gather for Christmas, Xmas-eve in Japan is “date night.” This can include overnight at hotels, so I am having a hard time getting reservations for this evening in Osaka.

The nice young woman at the JR (Japan Rail) Travel agency located at the Takamatsu train station is being as helpful as she can; but the pickings are thin. After several calls she finally finds me a room at the Shin Hankyu Hotel Annex. Having made the mistake of staying there once before, I know it is a dreadful hotel; but it’s my own fault for not having made reservations earlier. I also book train tickets for the ride to Osaka at 4:30 and I am set.

Now, it’s 12:30 and I have a 1PM appointment to tour the Isumu Noguchi Garden Museum in Mure. The local train will not get me there till 1:03 so I opt for a taxi. The driver takes me near the museum; but, we can’t seem to find the entrance. It is clear that we are close-by so I get out rather than let the meter keep running.

As the tour starts (exactly at 1PM), Ikeda-san introduces herself to me. Since I am the only non-JPN person today, I am treated to what amounts to a private tour. This studio/work area is pretty much as Noguchi left it with 40-50 works in various stages of (in)completion. Ikeda-san points out that one stone still has the making indicating that it was shipped to JPN via Kobe.

Isamu Noguchi was born in 1904 to a American mother and JPN father. He grew up in Japan but moved to the US at age 13. Much of his adult life, he was based in New York—designing furniture, lamps as well as stage sets for Modern dance icon Martha Graham. His work, particularly in his latter years, owes much to his JPN ancestry. His Akari lamp series is a modern abstract take on the typical JPN paper lantern. If I were more of an entrepreneur, I would have a link here for you to buy one of these lamps. I will point out that museum memberships are available. Operators are standing by…

Noguchi’s atelier is a huge building with high ceilings which originally served as a sake distillery. He had the wooden structure moved to Mure, Takamatsu to house a 3.6 meter high “Energy Void.” According to Ikeda-san the building then was reconstructed around the artwork.

Next to Noguchi’s fossilizing atelier is the working studio of Isumi-san. The ping ping ping of his assistant’s mallets brings a much need life to the atmosphere. As we talk about Isumi-sensei, it turns out that Ikeda-san and I have a mutual friend in Sapporo, M-san, the affable and cultured proprietor of the elegant Bar N43 in that city in northern Japan.

"Energy Void"

The real delight this afternoon comes as we move to Noguchi’s home and the garden that rises up on the hill behind it. Only a few trees adorn this “garden.” But the slopes sculpted out of the hills now barren in the winter cold are, nonetheless, so romantic that one can imagine the bold movement’s of Martha Graham’s lithe dancers.