Benesse House, Japan: A feast for the soul

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This was published 9 years ago

Benesse House, Japan: A feast for the soul

By Caroline Baum
Spectacle: An installation at Benesse House.

Spectacle: An installation at Benesse House.

There are many experiences that can trigger adrenalin or lift the spirits, but few have leave an impact like this magical gallery.

With or without a midlife crisis, there comes a point in life when you realise that the god-shaped hole – or whatever else you call the void in your soul – is not going to be filled by another resort holiday or shopping spree.

Instead, you could consider reprioritising your bucket list and making a pilgrimage to a couple of islands on Japan's Seto Sea. You might just have an epiphany.

Sights for the soul: Benesse House art site.

Sights for the soul: Benesse House art site. Credit: Getty Images

Like Tasmania, the island of Naoshima has had its economy re-booted by a contemporary art museum, Benesse House. The vision of a single individual, it also happens to be a high-end hotel, inviting inevitable comparisons with MONA .

But the similarities end there. Not to put too fine a point on it, the art at Benesse is of a very different calibre: we are talking international A list. Think Hockney, Twombly, Johns, Gormley, Caro, to name but a few. Not to mention Claude Monet. More of him in a moment.

Until 20 years ago, Naoshima was a sleepy island where locals made a living from fishing, harvesting salt and smelting for Mitsubishi. When things slowed down younger locals started to leave for the city. The population dwindled and declined. (It now numbers around 3300.) But then along came philanthropist art collector Soichiro Fukutake. The billionaire heir to an educational publishing fortune took a radical decision to revitalise Naoshima through art, building a museum he called Benesse House. He coined the name by amalgamating the Latin terms for "well" and "being" and pronounced ben-essay. It was designed by his friend, Pritzker prize winner Tadao Ando. His motives were unusually pure: philanthropy in Japan is not tax deductible.

Lighting the way: Art piece inside Benesse House art museum.

Lighting the way: Art piece inside Benesse House art museum. Credit: Getty Images

Split between several wings and settings, set on a green hilltop and running down to a slim sandy beach, Benesse House is filled with Fukutake's spectacular private collection, including several site specific works, some of them in guest rooms. Britain's most famous land artist, Richard Long made one using local mud for one suite. Iconic Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama created one of her signature giant polka-dotted pumpkins for the abandoned stone jetty; it soon became the island's unofficial emblem.

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Next, Fukutake decided what he really needed were five Monet waterlilies, which he duly purchased, commissioning Ando to build a subterranean museum to house them, together with two site specific works by American master of light sculpture James Turrell. The result is the Chichu museum (the name means underground in Japanese), approached on foot through a garden that references Monet's home at Giverny, with its famous lily pond – in homage to the fact that the painter had a Japanese gardener.

Chichu's atmosphere is austere and reverential: visitors are asked to don slippers and observe the Monets in silence. Attendants are on hand to help visitors adjust to the darkness inside Turrell's Open Field, a disorienting work which messes with the brain's perception of colour and space to astonishing effect.

As if all this were not enough to make Naoshima a must-see destination for any art lover, the small port village of Honmura has also undergone a renaissance thanks to Fukutake's vision. Here, international and Japanese artists have been invited to make works inside the abandoned cedar houses that were once home to the fishing community. (A new pavilion by Ando complements these traditional structures, housing another work by Turrell, this one eliciting nervous squeals as visitors are guided into pitch blackness. To say what happens next would be to spoil the effect, but it's all good.)

Benesse's free shuttle bus delivers guests to the start of a walking tour equipped with a map, allowing them to discover exhibits at their own pace through its narrow streets, offering glimpses of private gardens of bonsai and topiary. Near the port, a bath house has joined the party, turning itself into an art destination that can only be experienced if you strip off and have communal hot soak in a handpainted tiled pool overlooked, inexplicably, by a life-size model of an elephant.

Locals have turned their homes into modest guest houses and cafes – some of the latter are authentic while others represent awful examples of weird retro kitsch (as a rule, the closer to the port, the worse they are). For those on a budget, there are yurts on the beach – though mosquitoes are a problem in summer.

If the riches of Naoshima seem overwhelming, they are but a foretaste of the feast that lies beyond. Teshima, the next closest island, is regarded by many as the jewel in the group. Just 20 minutes away by small passenger boat, it has virtually no infrastructure for tourism.

But there is one very compelling reason to come here – shared among connoisseurs like membership of a secret cult: the Teshima Art Space. This looks like a large flying saucer that has landed in an abandoned rice paddy. Designed by another Pritzker winner, Ryue Nishizawa, it contains a single permanent installation by Rei Nato, whose aesthetic is the epitome of zen. Interacting with the elements of sound and wind through a large skylight punched in its concrete dome, her work is minimalist, devastatingly simple and so powerful in its impact that most visitors appear to be in a state of trance-like contemplation. Many are reduced to tears. The experience is best left un-described for maximum impact. Suffice to say, it is unique.

Officially, the smaller similar structure next door is a cafe but actually, it serves as a decompression chamber where most sit in stunned silence, trying to process what they have just seen while sipping on locally grown olive fizz.

The sensation of being in the middle of nowhere, removed from the rhythms and cares of the real world but in the presence of transcendent beauty is like a drug-induced heightened consciousness, comparable perhaps to hearing Bach or seeing Chartres for the first time, or whatever cultural absolute you measure all others by.

There are other art installations on Teshima: a bamboo structure by United States twins Doug and Mike Starn at the summit of the island that can only be reached by fit walkers (or by those savvy enough to have pre-booked a driver in advance with the help of Benesse House); a crazy tower lined with nine thousand postcards set in a vermilion painted rock garden and an archive of heartbeats from around the world by French artist Christian Boltanski (to which you can add your own).

But frankly, after visiting the Art Space, nothing else matters. It is so intense as to be slightly exhausting, in a vaguely post-coital way. Food is the obvious response. Near the jetty, a handwritten sign outside a private home declares 'Peace'. Inside a mother and daughter offer simple hearty noodles or potato pancakes cooked on a griddle in the middle of a compact kitchen. The kind of food you crave in a blissed-out state high on art fits the bill perfectly and costs the princely sum of four dollars. The contrast between the staggering wealth that revived the islands and the budget price tag of local hospitality only adds to the surreal charm of the experience.

Some art pilgrims continue on to Inujima, the next island in the Benesse art group, which is small enough to explore on foot and has a population of just seventy two. Once a copper refinery, its industrial ruins are now an art precinct including a network of tunnels (like Sydney's Cockatoo Island). One art installation is a tribute to the Japanese novelist Mishima Yukio, consisting of pieces of his former home suspended in mid-air. By the time you've experienced these marvels, you'll be floating too.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

jnto.go.jp

GETTING THERE

Jetstar flies from Melbourne via Cairns to Osaka for around $600 one way.

From there, continue to Naoshima by bullet train to Okayama, and then on local trains to Uno, and from there by ferry.

See jetstar.com

STAYING THERE

Benesse House has just 69 rooms and these are booked up well in advance especially during Japanese national holidays such as Golden Week and the summer months. Rates start at $370 per night to $830 for a suite. See benesse-artsite.jp. Staying at the museum definitely enhances the experience of Naoshima, but for those on a budget, there is a selection of homestay options in houses in Miyanoura and Honmura, costing around $40 per night. Some offer dinner or breakfast and have their own vegetable gardens. Many include Western style beds rather than futons. See tripadvisor.com.au. Internationally acclaimed writer Pico Iyer recommends Tsutsujiso, the Mongolian-style yurts (tent like huts) near the beach, which are ideal for family groups or travellers on a tight budget. The site includes a shower block and basic cafe.

EATING THERE

Cafe Salon Nakaoku, 1167 Nakaoku. Ask your hotel to book for you. See naka-oku.com. This is a charming, slightly boho inn on the edge of Honmura in a rural garden setting. This place serves local seafood simply grilled along with a selection of other modest traditional style dishes (they have an English language menu) and good coffee.

SHOPPING THERE

The Benesse house gift shop has a good selection of art catalogues and publications, cards, design ware plus unusual items including exquisite sugar seashells from Kyoto master sweet craftsmen.

WORTH KNOWING

You cannot change money on the island, so make sure you have Japanese currency before you get there. Staff at Benesse speak English but most residents who offer rooms for rent do not speak English.

AVOID

The newly-established Setouchi Triennale (the next one is in 2016, running at three times of year March-April, July-September, October-November) when hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the islands for this major international art event, spread across all of the art islands. It clogs the streets and creates long queues for all permanent and temporary exhibits, changing the character of these serenely peaceful places.

The author travelled at her own expense.

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