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Keihoku-cho's 2m26 architecture studio & six great Kyoto museums

The 2m26 Japanese architecture firm's new Keihoku-cho studio and office

Japan's prestigious 2m26 Kyoto architecture studio, which produces stunning interpretations of traditional Japanese structures, has just transformed a Keihoku-cho (NW of Kyoto about one hour by car) farmhouse into a beautiful office and studio.

Their studio-office project has transformed the farmhouse's century-old wooden structure using Japanese craftsmanship and locally sourced materials. The result is impressive, to say the least!

Complementing the existing framework, the ground floor studio is almost all cypress (hinoki) and fitted with handcrafted sliding doors and windows. The building has been kept in its passive climate control state. The rammed earth floor, a mix of clay, sand, and lime, absorbs excess moisture during Kyoto’s humid summers.

The edges of the farmhouse are protected with a cedar bark roof. The bark, in the time-honored tradition, is hand-stripped from logs in summer, dried until fall, and layered onto the rafters in seven shingled tiers with nails.

The handcrafted wooden windows were designed and built by 2m26 and the hinoki cypress sliding doors seamlessly connect the interior with the outdoor workspace.

A ceramic-supported copper lighting system was a modern touch added after the interiors were finished. And a wood-burning stove was used to add warmth and comfort in all the working and living areas. Details: https://2m26.com/ .

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Content by Ian Martin Ropke, owner of Your Japan Private Tours (est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with Japan private tour clients and have worked for all kinds of families, companies, and individuals since 1990. Clients find me mostly via organic search, and I advertise my custom Japan private tours & travel services on www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps in Japan! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. I, Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search), am also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!

Kyoto's 1920s Kawai Kanjiro Museum

This fantastic museum was originally the longtime residence, workplace, and studio of the ceramic artist Kawai Kanjiro (1890-1966), who, together with Bernard Leach (a world famous British ceramics artist) and many others, helped to save the fast disappearing traditional folkcrafts of Japan in the 1920’s. The museum would be interesting to anyone who likes wood, ceramics, or old Japan. It was built in 1937 according to Kanjiro’s own design. He also created much of the furniture. The extensive house includes an old rising kiln (noborigama), his studio workshop, a garden area, and small collection of his works.

The museum would be interesting to anyone who likes wood, ceramics, or old Japan. It was built in 1937 according to Kanjiro’s own design. He also created much of the furniture. The extensive house includes an old rising kiln (noborigama), his studio workshop, a garden area, and small collection of his works. The interior of the house has been preserved the way he left it and offers a fascinating and detailed insight into Kanjiro’s life and work. In his words, “life is work, work is life” and this house proves this point perfectly. The interior of the house has been preserved the way he left it and offers a fascinating and detailed insight into Kanjiro’s life and work. In his words, “life is work, work is life” and this house proves this point perfectly.

Open daily 10:00-19:00. Closed Mondays, except for national holidays when the museum is closed Tuesday). Details: https://www.kyoto-museums.jp/en/museum/east/3875/ .

Kahitsukan Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art

Man is shackled by preconceived ideas, set theories.

In art, as in science, people's minds have blinders--established theories--

which deprive them of liberty of thought.

Wishing to maintain my freedom to doubt,

I have named this museum the Kahitsukan,

to indicate that it and all things (Ka) might not really (hitsu) be as one is led to believe.

I only hope that somehow it will make an original contribution to beauty.

Yoshitomo Kajikawa

First director of the Kahitsukan Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art

Opened in 1981, this private art museum is located in the Gion district, on the north side of Shijo Street about 200 meters east of Yasaka Shrine. The Kahitsukan Museum has long been my favorite modern and contemporary art museum in Kyoto. "Kahitsukan" is related to the idea that in the desire to be free as an artist one questions established aesthetic viewpoints to find new perspectives.

The museum's collection centers around great Japanese 20th-century artists. In the Steve Jobs simple interiors visitors can experience extraordinary works by artists like Rosanjin Kitaoji (a renowned ceramic artist), Kazan Murakami (Japanese style painter), and Kaoru Yamaguchi (a Japanese Western-style painter). And each floor features stunning sculptures.

The museum's top floor has a tea room overlooking a small Zen moss and gravel garden, with a perfect maple tree.

Details: http://www.kahitsukan.or.jp/frame_e.html

Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co., Ltd.

The textiles made by the famous firm Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co., Ltd. are everywhere in Japan, in its trains, planes, homes and offices. From traditional obi, painstakingly crafted by hand, to huge theater curtains, Kawashima textiles are synonymous with quality. They've even earned themselves the approval of the Imperial Household, which has commissioned Kawashima tapestries for the Akasaka, Showa and Kyoto palaces. If you'd like to see the craft traditions of Kyoto at their living best, why not pay their workrooms a visit?

Kawashima began in 1843 as a kimono wholesaler in Kyoto's Muromachi district. It wasn't until 1880, however, when the founder's son, Jinbei Kawashima II, resurrected a neglected technique of brocade weaving called tsuzure that the company's fortunes were assured. The introduction of power looms and the construction of a modern weaving mill in 1918 gave added impetus to its progress. After World War II, Kawashima survived by supplying fabric for the homes and cars of Occupation personnel.

When Kawashima opened its Ichihara factory in 1964, it showed rare foresight and designed it to be visitor-friendly. They are proud of what they make and welcome observation. All rooms have big glass windows so the manufacturing processes are in plain sight.

The factory is divided into two parts: the first is where carpets and curtains are machine made. Here you can also see threads and yarns being dyed. In the second part you can observe such traditional products as obi and kimono being hand made. When you see that it takes skilled professionals an entire day to weave three centimeters of an obi, you begin to realize why they're so expensive! This part of the factory, too, is where Kawashima makes its huge stage curtains, or doncho. In a cavernous room, as many as ten weavers work away on a huge tsuzure loom in what is a marvelous combination of human talent and technology. One curtain can be 24 meters wide and 6 meters high and usually takes about six months to complete.

In addition to the factory, Kawashima also operates a Textile School and a museum. The school was started in 1973 to teach weaving, dyeing, and other textile skills. The Kawashima Textile Museum, which opened in 1984, has a rotating collection of about 80,000 textiles from ancient Japan, China, Persia, and other countries. A stop in their museum would provide a useful perspective on the textiles you saw being made at their factory and would be a good way to end your visit to Ichihara.

To get to Kawashima's scenic location, take the Keifuku Railway from Demachi Yanagi to Ichihara, and then walk south for ten minutes. Details (translate to English, please): https://www.kawashimaselkon.co.jp/bunkakan/use/ .

Shoeido Co., Ltd. for the best incense in Japan

Ko, or incense, came to Japan along with Buddhism in the middle of the 6th century. It soon found its way into the secular life of the Imperial court, and by the l5th century a cult, complete with a prescribed ceremony, had grown up around it. People gathered not only to enjoy the smell, but to appreciate poems and songs, and even the movement of the smoke itself.

As time went by, incense grew in popularity among the common people, too, and today it's a feature of everyday life. Incense mania reached its peak in the middle of the Edo Period, however. After Japan closed its doors, it became difficult to get materials from China. The incense ceremony started to fade away until today there are only a couple thousand people who practice it. However, a new and different interest in incense has been in vogue with younger generations since the mid 1980s.

Kyoto is a famous center for incense products and Shoeido is its most famous incense company. Established in 1705, Shoeido began exporting to the U.S. in l897. According to Mr. Masataka Hata, the Executive Director of Shoeido:

1. Our incense sales have increased significantly since the mid 1980s. Younger Japanese generations are showing a renewed interest in our high-quality products (for relaxation and spiritual practices). Japanese consumers, regardless of generation, are very picky about quality, so we only focus on quality rather than revenue at all costs.

2. Yes, Japanese traditional incense used to be used only by the Court and the upper classes on special occasions, but nowadays it's used in more ordinary situations. Also, anything "natural" is 'in' these days and it's finding its way into homes in that connection. Of course, it's still mostly used for Buddhist altars and in 'Kaori Bukuro' (ittle brocade bags which, by the way, make nice souvenirs).

3. We host annual incense and tea ceremonies. So far we've had sixteen in Kyoto, five in Sapporo and five in Matsuyama. Every year about 5,600 people attend these ceremonies. We supply the materials and our students perform the ceremonies. Secondly, we sponsor an annual essay and photo contest in May. The theme is "fragrance" and applications are accepted starting in October. We've also published a book about incense and made a movie. We also participated in the Silk Road Exposition of '88. These are all ways we've tried to familiarize people with our product.

4. We're thinking of inventing an electric incense burner. But mainly we've redesigned our packaging so people will have a more positive, less old-fashioned, image of incense. In fact, we're trying to promote the use of the English word "incense" rather than "ko" which has such formal connotations. We'd like to see people taking "incense breaks" the way they take coffee breaks.

5. We do have an incense laboratory where materials are analyzed. And employees are taught about the incense ceremony.

6. We were the first Japanese incense company to export overseas. That was in 1897. We have focues on the overseas market rather than the Japanese one, and we have been very successful at it. World War II interrupted our business with China, but we're exporting there now. In the 60's the hippie and drug movement had a negative influence on our business with Europe and the U.S., but now we're doing well in those markets as well.

7. We participate in the major events every year such as the trade fairs in Messe and Frankfurt, Germany. We have a representative in the U.S. and have held incense ceremonies in Boston, Denver, and San Francisco.

8. Though the incense in our boxed products are the same for all markets, we do design our foreign packaging to have a distinctly Oriental look or feel.

9. The people who make our incense formulas are highly-skilled specialists, but there isn't anyone in our business with the star status of, say, a world-famous perfumer.

Shoeido Co., Ltd. Head Office: Nijo-agaru, Kurumaya-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto Tel: 075-231-2307. They also have branch shops in the Tokyo Ginza district, Sapporo and other major Japanese centers. Details: https://www.shoyeido.co.jp/english/ .

Sen-Oku Museum's Chinese scrolls & bronzes

The Sen-Oku Hakko Kan is located in the calm and beautiful environment of the eastern part of Kyoto with the Higashiyama mountains in the background. The bronzes of ancient China treasured in this museum are known throughout the world and the collection ranks as one of the finest outside China. Many of these bronzes were eagerly collected by prominent individuals already 1,000 years ago. In all there are nearly 600 pieces ﾑ ceremonial vessels, mirrors, Buddhist statuettes, and coins.

The museum is open to the public seven months of the year. The grounds and facilities of this well-endowed facility are splendid and include extensive garden areas and patios. The museum is conveniently located, on Shishigatani Street and the east end of Marutamachi Street, just west of the lower end of Kyoto's famous Path of Philosophy.

Sen Oku Hakko Kan was incorporated in 1960 as a foundation separate from the Sumitomo family. The foundation has over the years made the collection available to researchers and the general public and thus is highly respected. The museum was established on its present location in 1970.

Details (translate to English, please): https://sen-oku.or.jp/kyoto/ .

The Kyoto Railway Museum

Many people are in love with trains and train travel. I had high-end clients in 2023 who traveled across the globe riding the best and fastest trains. Kyoto has a great train museum called the Kyoto Railway Museum.

There are seventeen engines in the museum, of which six still move. You can't ride the big ones, although there is a toy railroad that takes kids around a track. A trip to the Kyoto Railway Museum can be combined with sightseeing at Toji Temple, the Hongan-ji temples, and Sanjusangen-do Temple. If you've been thinking of taking a great off-the-beaten-track stroll through a 'real Kyoto neighborhood,' this area is well worth the time.

And while you're marveling at the trains, a shining reminder of a great optimistic age of engineering and technology, think about this. In 1945, had Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson not put his foot down and removed Kyoto from the list of targets for the atom bomb, the train museum roundhouse would have been the epicenter of the blast.

Open 9:30 - 4:30, closed Mondays, or Tuesday when Monday is a holiday. Details: https://www.kyotorailwaymuseum.jp/en/ .

Content by Japan travel specialist & designer Ian Martin Ropke, founder & owner of Your Japan Private Tours (YJPT, est. 1990). I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. I work closely with all of YJPT's Japan private tour clients and have a great team behind me. I promote YJPT through this content and only advertise at www.japan-guide.com, which has the best all-Japan English content & maps! If you are going to Japan and you understand the advantages of private travel, consider my services for your next trip to save time & have a better time. Ian Martin Ropke (unique on Google Search) is also a serious nonfiction and fiction writer, a startup founder (NexussPlus.com), and a spiritual wood sculptor. Learn more!