A trip to Yufuin to discover the time of an adult
Yufuin Onsen, along with Kurokawa Onsen in Kumamoto Prefecture, is a popular hot spring tourist destination that has enjoyed a huge boom. Of course, it remains one of the top five most popular hot spring destinations in Kyushu. Yufuin Onsen used to be a minor hot spring resort in the hot spring prefecture of Oita, but it has been boosted by music and film festivals that have helped to revitalize the town. The "cultural flavor" is the starting point of Yufuin Onsen's appeal. If you are planning a trip to Yufuin, spend some time as an adult soaking in the culture along with the hot springs.
Immerse yourself in contemporary art, rest in outdoor art
COMICO ART MUSEUM YUFUIN
Talking with the works in the dimly lit exhibition room
As you know, the main area of "Yufuin" is compact enough to get around on foot. Stores, restaurants, and tourist spots are concentrated in a small area. COMICO ART MUSEUM YUFUIN is a 10-minute walk from JR Yufuin Station. It is rare to find an art museum that requires reservations. The museum opened in October 2017. The architectural design is by Kengo Kuma, a leading figure in the Japanese architectural world. The museum started with works by Takashi Murakami and Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Yoshitomo Nara's work was added in 2019.
Then, in July 2022, the exhibition area was expanded and the museum had its grand opening as a contemporary art museum exhibiting 46 works by 7 artists, including world-renowned artist Yayoi Kusama. The main building exhibits Yayoi Kusama's representative "pumpkin" motif works and "Infinity Net" works from the early stages of her creative career. At the entrance to the new wing is Tatsuo Miyajima's digital counter "Time Wate Fall. Blue glowing digital numbers randomly stream down the black columns.
One of the main features of this gallery is that the interior lighting is turned down to the absolute minimum. Upon entering the exhibition room, one is greeted by a dimly lit space where the lighting is adjusted so that the viewer's eyes are focused solely on the artist's work.
One can subconsciously experience how effective this is for viewing artworks. The viewer is drawn into the infinite world of Yayoi Kusama's exquisite mesh and polka-dot patterns, and focuses his or her attention solely on the work. It is truly a relationship between the work and the viewer. The same is true of Hiroshi Sugimoto's delicate black-and-white photographs and Takashi Murakami's seemingly bright and pop-like works in the New Wing, which speak to the viewer of a somewhat empty feeling. Although the number of visitors to the museum is limited by reservation only, one is able to gaze at the works of art with nothing superfluous in sight or sound in sound in one's ears. And how luxurious it is.
Art with the borrowed landscape of Mt.
The second floor of the new building is an open gallery. The interior of the large triangular-roofed structure is completely different from the exhibition rooms, and sunlight pours in through the wall of windows. Beyond the windows is an outdoor gallery that utilizes the rooftop, and Mt. Yufudake, the symbol of Yufuin, rises up before your eyes. The museum hopes that visitors will appreciate the large objet d'art along with the natural beauty of Yufuin. This is the idea of the museum.
Standing facing the open gallery is Yoshitomo Nara's Your Dog, a 2019 addition. A huge, pure white dog closes its eyes as if pensive. The artist says that this is an image from his childhood, and that his message is to encourage people to look at themselves through the figure of a dog from childhood, when everything seemed so big.
Joining the new building are Mariko Mori's sculpture "Eternal" and Kohei Nawa's sculpture "Ether (lava)". Mori's "Eternal," meaning "eternity," represents the Möbius wheel, which has no end and no beginning. Life and death, which are eternally repeated in the universe, are considered as reincarnation, and there is an existence that cannot be seen. And Nawa's "Ether" is "something that always continues to shine," an unknown substance that filled the universe. It expresses how it has come down to earth and is about to return to the heavens again. Indeed, their philosophy may live only with nature as a borrowed scenery.
COMICO ART MUSEUM YUFUIN Data
Location 2995?1 Kawakami, Yufuin-cho, Yufu City, Oita Prefecture
Phone Private
Hours: 9:30 - 17:00 (last admission at 16:00)
Closed Wednesdays, January 1, 2, and 11
Admission: Adults 1,700 yen, college and university students 1,200 yen, junior high and high school students 1,000 yen, elementary school students 700 yen, free for elementary school students and younger
COMICO ART MUSEUM YUFUIN official website
A moment to trace Osamu Dazai's life as a writer
Hekiunso in Yufuin Literature Forest
If you like literature, especially Osamu Dazai, you cannot miss the "Forest of Literature" near the Yufuin Interchange. Unlike the Yunotsubo Street area, which is crowded with tourists, it is located in a quieter area of Yufuin. That is also good. In April 2017, a house from the early Showa period in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, was moved to a plot of land a short distance up the hill. That is Hekiunso, an apartment associated with Osamu Dazai. In case you are wondering, there are 75 houses where he lived and stayed during his lifetime, including his birthplace in Aomori Prefecture. I wonder how much of a mover he is. No, no, no, why was he in Yufuin in the first place? There are probably many people who wonder why he moved to Yufuin in the first place.
In fact, the "Hekiunso" had been scheduled for demolition in its hometown of Tokyo. The residents had requested that the building with its literary value be preserved, but the decision was made to demolish it. Hearing this, a ryokan owner in Yufuin heard about it. They decided to move the building from Tokyo all the way to Yufuin at a cost of approximately 200 million yen. During the relocation, Hekiun-so was hit by the Kumamoto earthquake, but veteran temple carpenters were able to move it back to its original layout and orientation.
And comedian and Akutagawa Prize-winning author Naoki Matayoshi is a big fan of Osamu Dazai. Naturally, he was also involved in activities to preserve Hekiun-so, and when it was moved to Yufuin, he brought the stone lantern in front of its entrance and the cherry tree in the garden with his own money. Occasionally, he visits Hekiunso in Yufuin, where he can be found quietly reading. In fact, the first floor is a coffee shop, where you can spend time with a cup of coffee in your favorite room, just as it was laid out in those days. The books on the shelves can be read freely. Looking into the garden from the coffee room, you can see the stone lanterns and garden trees. This is the reason why Dazai and Matayoshi fans come here.
Between Osamu Dazai, an individual, and Osamu Dazai, a writer.
Hekiun-so, a wooden building with a blend of Japanese and Western architecture, has two entrances: the left one leads to the first-floor coffee shop, and the right one leads to the second-floor lodging rooms. The first floor was once the landlord's residence, and there are five rooms on the second floor, all of which have alcoves made of fine wood. Each room is named after a work by Dazai and is now open to the public as a reading space.
The 27-year-old Osamu Dazai lived in the eight-mat room at the back of the house with his wife, Iei, for about seven months from November 1936. Based on his actual experience of being hospitalized for narcotic painkiller addiction, he wrote "HUMAN LOST," the prototype of "Ningen Shikkaku" here. Therefore, the room is named "HUMAN LOST. Life with the first generation was extremely turbulent. Dazai injected himself with as many as 50 narcotic painkillers a day at the most, pawned Hatsuyo's kimono, and repeatedly borrowed money from acquaintances.
It was also during his time at Hekiunso that he learned that the first generation had made a mistake with Dazai's brother-in-law. He cried as he watched Mr. Fuji from the window of the communal toilet. He wrote about this conflict in his short story "Fugaku hyakkei (One hundred views of Mt. Fuji). The public lavatory and washbasin at the end of the staircase remain as they were in those days. The room at the top of the stairs is named "Fugaku Hyakkei," a small room about 4.5 tatami in size with a green sofa.
The room next to "Fugaku Hyakkei" is "Shayo," which depicts the downfall of the postwar nobility, and the room across the hall from these two is "Running Meros. Two moss green easy chairs and a side table are placed, and an abstract painting is hung on the alcove wall. And the room adjacent to "HUMAN LOST" in the back is "Good Bye," Dazai's unfinished masterpiece. Each room is furnished with retro Showa-era furniture and furnishings, and each person can bring his or her favorite Dazai book to spend time in the room. As time permits, they can interact with Dazai's works and reflect on Dazai's life as an individual. We hope you will take your time and enjoy the nature, light, and wind of Yufuin.
Yufuin Literature Forest, Hekiunso Data
Location 1354-26, Aza Hirahara, Kawakita, Yufuin-cho, Yufu City, Oita Prefecture
Phone: 0977-76-8171
Hours 10:00-17:00
Closed No holidays
Admission Free
Yufuin Literature Forest Hekiunso official website
Two sweet and spicy local specialties as souvenirs for your trip
The end of the trip is also the time to buy souvenirs. You want to bring back memories of your trip in the form of a local specialty. The long-established Akashi Confectionary Shop is located near JR Yufuin Station, making it easy to stop by on the way to and from the COMICO ART MUSEUM YUFUIN. Their specialty is "Moist An Potato" (250 yen per piece including tax). The moist and fluffy dough made from Miyazaki sweet potatoes with a high quality taste and texture is completely filled with a refined sweet red bean paste. The melt-in-your-mouth texture is smooth and moist. The dough is carefully packaged in a cup, so it would make a great souvenir. It is said that if you chill it in the refrigerator, you can enjoy its cool texture.
Yufuin Noodle Studio's "Yufuin Spicy Noodles" (750 yen for 2 servings including tax) is also recommended for dried noodles. The super hot type of deliciously spicy soup is addictive. The spiciness can be adjusted with the spicy sauce, and a beaten egg adds mildness and a fluffy texture. The remaining soup can be made into a porridge by adding rice. In summer, you can sweat away the sweat by eating hot and spicy noodles. It is also irresistible.
Akashi Confectionery Store Data
Location 2-2 Kawakita, Yufuin-cho, Yufu City, Oita Prefecture
Phone: 0977-84-2575
Hours 10:00~17:00
Holidays: No regular holidays
Roadside Station Yufuin
Location 899-76 Kawakami, Kawakami, Yufuin-cho, Yufu City, Oita Prefecture
Phone: 0977-84-5551
Hours 9:00-17:00
Closed: No holidays
Roadside Station Yufuin Official Website
Yufu Seimen official website
