Echigo Tsumari Artwork Triennale information for the humanities lover in Niigata

Certainly one of my favorite issues from my street journey round Niigata was trying out the Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Discipline, an artwork pageant with many attention-grabbing modern artworks that inform the historical past and tales of this rural agricultural space. Right here’s my Echigo Tsumari Artwork Triennale information on how you can get round ETAT, what key artworks to look out for whenever you go to and a few suggestions that will help you higher discover this Niigata area.

Echigo Tsumari Artwork Triennale 2024 begins from 13 July to 10 November. Discover out extra on the ETAT web site. You can too try my article about ETAT on ST Life [paywall].

Concerning the Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale

The Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale (ETAT) is one in all Japan’s largest arts festivals that takes place in southern Niigata throughout 6 areas – Echigo-Tsumari are literally outdated names for Tokamachi and Tsunan respectively.

ETAT is definitely the predecessor of the Setouchi Triennale within the Seto Inland Sea space that I visited in 2016 – ETAT began in 2000 and was a strategy to revitalise the agricultural Niigata area which had an ageing inhabitants and was dropping younger folks to the cities.

Matsudai Castle Hill Lookout Tower — Look out for the yellow indicators that point out ETAT artworks. This one is on the slope of Matsudai Citadel known as Matsudai Small Tower (D70)

Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Discipline Areas

I spent 3 nights on this space and about 3 days exploring I based mostly myself in Tokamachi Metropolis and spent a good period of time exploring neighbouring Matsudai and Matsunoyama, in addition to heading out to Nakasato to see the Kiyotsu Gorge.

Right here’s a map detailing the place I went and what I noticed, in addition to some issues I want I had time for alongside the best way. A notice that that is based mostly on my go to in 2023, there could also be new additions to take a look at with the newer editions of ETAT.

Tokamachi 十日町

Whereas Tokamachi refers back to the wider space that covers all of the cities I record beneath, Tokamachi Metropolis might be the busiest district inside this space and the place I based mostly myself to discover the pageant. Tokamachi is without doubt one of the simpler spots to get to as a result of it’s on the Hokuhoku practice line, and many of the principal artworks are inside strolling distance of the downtown space as properly, which makes it a super base when you don’t have a automotive.

Museum on Echigo-Tsumari / MonET (T025)

The Museum on Echigo-Tsumari (MonET) (entry payment/passport required) is the principle coronary heart of ETAT and place to see a bunch of works and choose up info and maps to plan your route, and has probably the most complete merchandise retailer of all of the places.

There are too many works to record comprehensively, however among the works I loved at MonET:

LOST #6 (T230) by Kuwakubo Ryota – slightly practice goes round a mannequin of Tokamachi metropolis in a darkish room casting actually attention-grabbing shadows on the wall because it circles the tracks, utilizing these shifting shadows to inform a narrative of Tokamachi’s historical past
SOIL LIBRARY/NIIGATA (T280) by Kouichi Kurita – this artist collected soil samples from throughout Niigata and organized them aesthetically – so fairly and an intriguing work

Try the MonET web site for extra.

Tokamachi MonET 16 Ropes — 16 Ropes (T416) by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov captures snippets of conversations from the Soviet period held on 16 ropes stretched throughout a room, every with a ‘rubbish’ merchandise hooked up

IKOTE (T309)

Often known as the Tokamachi Trade and Cratft Heart, We had one in all our first meals in Tokamachi on the lovely igloo-shaped IKOTE not too far-off from MonET – the architects Takaharu and Yui Tezuka additionally constructed the Kyororo constructing in Matsunoyama. The form of the home is as a result of huge snowfall they get round these components.

Tokamachi Ikote Food Table — They’ve a fairly intensive dinner menu – I acquired the Tsumari pork, an area delicacy of Tokamachi

Hachi and Seizo Tashima Museum of Image Ebook Artwork (T173)

Hachi and Seizo Tashima Museum of Image Ebook Artwork (entry payment/passport required) is a fantastical set up set in an outdated disused faculty set a bit additional out from downtown Tokamachi.

Whereas it delves in to the problem of dropping the younger to the cities, this work has plenty of whimsy, wistfulness and nostalgia in it, fairly completely different from The Final Class in Mastunoyama (see beneath) which can also be in regards to the lack of youth – it’s attention-grabbing to see how completely different artists sort out related themes in utterly other ways throughout the pageant.

Tokamachi Picture Book Museum Hall — Let your creativeness run wild because the final 3 college students of the college go on a vibrant journey!

Tokamachi Picture Book Museum Classroom Me — Instructing the final 3 college students within the faculty

Tokamachi Picture Book Museum Mini House — This miniature home has a working TV when you go proper as much as it!

Home of Gentle (K005)

James Turrell’s Home of Gentle is technically in Kawanishi 川西 but it surely’s not far by automotive from Tokamachi Metropolis. A lovely conventional fashion home on stilts up on high of the hill, you may go to the work as a visitor for a really quick interval within the afternoon, however one of the simplest ways to expertise the Home of Gentle is to remain in a single day so you may witness the sunshine altering segments at sundown and dawn.

Try my detailed assessment of the Home of Gentle and what you may anticipate when you keep in a single day.

Tokamachi House of Light Exterior — Conventional home on stilts to fight excessive snowfall – that roof on high opens!

Tokamachi House of Light Show Start Pink Glow — The pink gentle means the present is in regards to the start. That roof opens as much as the skin components

Tokamachi House of Light Roof Open Photo — I’m in awe at how a easy gap within the roof can do such attention-grabbing issues with gentle

There are another artworks to see within the Kawanishi space when you enterprise up in direction of the Fushiguro Citadel Ruins space, however these are largely smaller sculptures scattered across the space. Solely really useful you probably have time and the climate is sweet as a result of the street main there’s a fairly slim mountainous stretch.

Different issues to do in Tokamachi

One of many spotlight meals to eat on this space is one thing known as hegisoba, a particular sort of soba created from buckwheat and funori seaweed. My guesthouse people really useful us the restaurant Nishino which was a brief stroll from the home and the practice station. We tried each hegisoba and hegiudon (the udon model) – they’re fairly filling so tempo your self, and usually ate lots at this meal, so good!

For those who want extra choices, one other hegisoba restaurant really useful to me is Echigo Tokamachi Kojimaya.

Tokamachi Nishino Hegisoba — Hegisoba is served in ‘chunk sized’ segments that you just dip and eat

Nishino にし乃 [Google maps]. Open 1130am – 2pm, 530pm – 10pm. Closed on Tuesdays.

Tokamachi Koryukan is the guesthouse that I stayed at in Tokamachi for two nights and I extremely suggest it not only for its nice location (a brief 10 minute to Tokamachi Station and a fair shorter drive). It is a cute conventional fashion guesthouse that’s additionally a restaurant generally through the day time.

The house owners are very nice and pleasant and converse fairly good English, and gave us glorious suggestions on issues to take a look at across the space. They even helped us organize to ahead our baggage by way of Takkyubin and despatched us to the workplace to get it finished! They’ve many kimonos you may attempt on within the hallway – that’s one other product that Tokamachi was as soon as well-known for!

Amenities clever, they put together a wonderful conventional fashion Japanese breakfast – rice topped with a recent uncooked egg and a few fish and veg aspect dishes. It’s a shared rest room however a big onsen bathtub fashion one which has its personal cloakroom.

Tokamachi Koryukan Exterior — Night on the Koryukan

Tokamachi Koryukan Room — Our barely messy room – there’s a mini balcony space of kinds that may squeeze a third futon you probably have 3 pax

Tokamachi Koryukan View — View from the home – dealing with the fields

Tokamachi Koryukan Breakfast — So easy however so good

Tokamachi Fureai no Yado Koryukan 十日町ふれあいの宿 [Google maps]. Make a reservation by way of the Tokamachi Koryukan web site.

Matsudai 松代

Matsudai is situated about 30-40 minutes’ drive west of Tokamachi Metropolis with a hub close to the practice station and a few fairly cool installations across the space.

Matsudai NOHBUTAI Discipline Museum (D053)

The Matsudai NOHBUTAI Discipline Museum (entry payment/passport required) is a cool wanting constructing with assortment of works each inside and across the constructing. This constructing is a brief stroll from the Matsudai Prepare Station, once more one other handy hub for the non-drivers.

Matsudai Citadel can also be close by however up a fairly steep slope so that you do must drive to get there.

Extra on the Matsudai NOHBUTAI web site.

Matsudai Nohbutai Building — Matsudai Nohbutai Constructing

Matsudai Nohbutai Rice Terraces — The Kabakovs have a number of works at ETAT and right here at Matsudai Nohbutai, however probably the most seen one might be The Rice Discipline (D001), one in all their earliest works – this isn’t the total image as there’s a specific spot close to the constructing the place a Japanese poem is strung up on strings and meant to be considered along with this scene

Matsudai Citadel

Matsudai Citadel (entry payment/passport required) is true subsequent door however situated on high of a lofty 384m tall hill which you’ll need to drive to, after which slowly stroll up (15 minutes for regular folks, 10mins when you ran like I did).

We virtually ran up this hill as a result of we visited very near closing time and I solely had 8 minutes to see the whole lot! There are 3 works, every discovered on a distinct stage, and another sculptures scattered alongside the hillside.

Matsudai Castle Exterior — Matsudai Citadel was constructed as a watchtower of kinds and really pretty fashionable, reconstructed in 1981. The citadel grounds itself truly unfold throughout the Matsudai space

Matsudai Castle Slope — Are you able to ese that tiny white dot within the centre? That’s me working forward of my good friend who made it up 4 minutes behind me lol

Views of Longing (D377) by Esther Stocker is the primary sight that greets you, an incongruously modern visible of an enormous crushed up ball in what would have been the doorway corridor of this as soon as conventional constructing.

Matsudai Castle First Floor — The juxtaposition of outdated and new is sort of one thing

Going as much as the second stage is Laxudai (D378) by Toyofuku Ryo, a glitzy golden home in that sandwich stage between the bottom and high ground. It’s like a hidden little world inside the citadel.

Matsudai Castle Second Floor — The golden home beneath the steps

Lastly on the highest ground with the perfect views of the encircling space is Shedding Time (D379) by Kurakake Junichi appears like a meditation room, the place the darkish partitions and spherical openings assist you to actually give attention to the luxurious view of the encircling countryside.

Matsudai Castle Top Floor — A gold platform sits in a room with darkish painted partitions and spherical doorways

Matsudai Castle Top Floor View — Take a look at that view!

Different issues to do in Matsudai

Rice is in fact the principle characteristic in Niigata, however in these hilly components, the Hoshitoge Rice Terraces are one in all a number of tanada (rice terraces) that make for spectacular viewpoints. I visited in October which is fairly out of season – the perfect occasions to go to might be center of the 12 months when the terraces are full of water, and can replicate the dawn/sundown gentle.

Matsudai Hoshitoge Rice Terrace Me — Hoshitoge Rice Terraces are simply one of many lovely landscapes present in Niigata

Matsudai Hoshitoge Rice Terrace Trees Me — Looking over the rice terraces

We additionally visited the Matsudai Shibatouge Onsen: Unkai 峠温泉雲海 which is a stunning scorching spring facility up on the mountain and views of the encircling valley from the new spring swimming pools. I couldn’t take pix of the view, but it surely’s a stunning place to soak in after an extended day of artwork searching! You might additionally keep in a single day right here and there’s an ETAT sculpture right here (I didn’t {photograph} it as a result of it was already darkish).

Matsudai Shibatouge Unkai Onsen Exterior — No pix of the baths sadly, however there’s a pretty mountain view as that is up within the hills

Matsunoyama 松之山

Matsunoyama is a famend scorching spring space and a favorite apres-ski spot through the winter season. The onsen water right here is meant to have very sturdy medicinal properties and be good for well being and sweetness.

The Final Class (Y052)

The Final Class (entry payment/passport required) takes place within the deserted Higashikawa faculty and is admittedly atmospheric and haunting. You enter the dimly lit faculty corridor the place desk followers lazily blow round straw and hay on the ground. Additional in, the darkish hallways really feel like a horror film with the thumping of heartbeats echoing by the constructing – the French artist Christian Boltanski has a piece on Teshima in Setouchi Triennale that additionally makes use of heartbeats (in a much less scary means).

Matsunoyama Last Class Hall — The Final Class by Christian Boltanski and Jean Kalman is ready in an outdated disused faculty constructing in Matsunoyama’s Higashikawa Village

Matsunoyama Last Class School — The disused faculty constructing

Matsunoyama Last Class Mirrors — These partitions are lined with mirrors, once more emphasing that vacancy and horror film really feel

Matsunoyama Last Class Shadows — What you may’t hear from this pix is the whirring of the fan and the thumping heartbeats

Home Reminiscence (Y072)

Home Reminiscence (entry payment/passport required) by Shiota Chiharu takes a conventional minka home and makes it appear like a human-sized spider took over it, with 44,000m of black yarn used to create webs all through the home. It’s a fairly cool expertise strolling by this, particularly whenever you uncover the objects hidden within the webs which belonged to the villagers – gadgets they couldn’t carry themselves to discard regardless that they weren’t wanted.

Matsunoyama House Memory Exterior Sign — Appears to be like like a standard home from exterior

Matsunoyama House Memory Web — Spider webs galore inside!

Matsunoyama House Memory Web Items — Barely creepy gadgets amidst the webbing

Different issues to do in Matsunoyama

Matsunoyama onsen is the principle cause folks go to this space and most of those are situated alongside the stretch of street in what feels just like the valley of the world. I used to be really useful to take a look at Takanoyu however there are a number of choices round right here. The water is uncommon in that it’s apparently sea water trapped underground thousands and thousands of years in the past, so it’s salty and the mineral content material can also be very excessive, making it one of many high medicinal scorching springs in Japan.

There’s a free public foot bathtub alongside this stretch of street. The water is fairly scorching so you’ll need to run the chilly water for a bit if you wish to use it with out scalding your ft, but it surely has a pleasant view of the world and one of many ETAT artworks close by.

Matsunoyama Foot Bath Building — Foot bathtub exterior this constructing

Matsunoyama Foot Bath Me — Too scorching for me!

We had lunch in Matsunoyama in a restaurant known as Yama’ai or San’ai that’s well-known for his or her enormous parts of katsudon cooked within the scorching spring water right here. You possibly can see on this image beneath – that’s ONE portion imagine it or not. We requested the woman boss to separate it into two for us and had been truthfully fairly positive that she had mistakenly served us two parts, however nope that’s one portion! Excellent katsudon.

Matsunoyama Katsudon Me — Shocked on the gigantic portion – that is for 1 pax and prices simply 1,050 JPY (S$9)

Yama’ai/San’ai お食事処山愛(さんあい) [Google maps] Open each day 11am – 830pm.

One other good spot to go to is the Bijin Bayashi or Magnificence Forest 美人林. The bushes right here had been chopped down within the early 1900s and left the mountain aspect very naked. Across the late Twenties, they replanted the whole forest with Beech bushes which is why all of the bushes listed below are unusually uniform by way of top and progress. It was nonetheless very inexperienced once we visited in early October – November is when the autumn orange colouring actually reveals up.

Matsunoyama Bijin Bayashi Forest Entrance — Getting into the Bijin Bayashi – such tall trunks!

Matsunoyama Bijin Bayashi Forest Me — Forest bathing

Subsequent to the Bijin Bayashi forest is one other ETAT work that I actually needed to see however for some cause closed that very day we visited. Kyororo (Y019) or the Echigo-Matsunoyama Pure Museum of Science (entry payment/passport required) has weather-proof structure meant to tolerate as much as 2000 tons of snowfall! The exhibitions right here give attention to wildlife discovered round this space in addition to some ETAT artworks.

Extra on the Kyororo web site.

Matsunoyama Kyororo Exterior — Kyororo appears like a submarine

Nakasato 中里

Positioned south of Tokamachi, the spotlight of Nakasato is Kiyotsu Gorge, one of many must-sees within the space whether or not you might be an artwork fan or not, because it is without doubt one of the 3 largest gorges in Japan.

Tunnel of Gentle (N079)

Kiyotsu Gorge 清津峡 (entry payment/low cost with passport) has lengthy been well-known as one of many high 3 gorges in all of Japan, however in 2018, the 750m tunnel stroll by the mountain was reworked into the Tunnel of Gentle (N079) with artworks and picture worthy spots in opposition to an incredible gorge view. There are additionally some bits sharing in regards to the historical past of this space inside the tunnel – they’ve discovered fossil proof of prehistoric sharks round right here!

Extra on the Kiyotsu Gorge web site. Word that in ETAT season and peak months it’s important to make superior reservations to go to for crowd management.

Kiyotsu Gorge View from Tunnel — Kiyotsu Gorge view from the tunnel

The assorted artworks that make up Tunnel of Gentle are supposed to characterize completely different components.

Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel Green — Expression of Color (Earth) – completely different colored lights used to jazz up the tunnel

Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel Mirrors Me — Small enclaves alongside the 750m stroll have completely different artwork installations and gorge views, like this one known as Drop (Fireplace).

Kiyotsu Gorge Striped Section Wide — These stripes make for such attention-grabbing photographs, and that factor within the center is Invisible Bubble (steel), a TOILET with a 1-way glass dome that allows you to look exterior whenever you’re utilizing it!

Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel of Light Water Mirror Me — Folks come to take this shot of Gentle Cave (Water) at panorama station on the finish of the tunnel. There’s a shallow pool of water to stroll by to get to this spot

Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel of Light Water Mirror Photographers — Right here’s what it appears like when you’re the one getting your picture taken – plenty of folks and photographers (sure that’s me, this was taken by my good friend Y)

Don’t miss the little constructing free footbath and ‘Periscope’ on the present store close to the doorway and

Kiyotsu Gorge Entrance Path — There’s a constructing alongside the trail resulting in the gorge entrance which has a memento store, some snacks and the foot bathtub on the higher stage.

Kiyotsu Gorge Footbath Pano — Periscope (wooden) is the place you may soak your ft on this conical enclosure and revel in a view of the environment by wanting on the spherical mirror above your head.

The Isobe Yukihisa Memorial Echigo-Tsumari Kiyotsu SoKo Museum of Artwork (N072) or Kiyotsu Warehouse Museum is ready in a former faculty constructing and situated en path to the gorge – sadly it was closed once I was there so I didn’t get an opportunity to go to.

Close by: Echigo Yuzawa

Nakasato is about half an hour by driving away from Echigo Yuzawa, a very fashionable ski space accessible from Tokyo by way of Shinkansen. The Echigo Yuzawa practice station can also be residence to the Ponshukan the place over 130 completely different sakes can be found to check drink and a sake scorching spring bathtub!

Learn extra over at my Niigata hidden gems put up.

Echigo Yuzawa Ponshukan Entrance — Merchandising machine fashion sake for tasting!

Planning to go to Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale

This sprawling artwork pageant within the rural areas of Japan wants a little bit of preplanning if you wish to maximise your time right here. Listed here are my strategies on getting round ETAT.

When to go to Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale

I visited ETAT in October 2023, however the neat factor is which you can go to exterior of the triennale years as there are over 200 everlasting works on show. 2024 is an efficient 12 months to go to as it’s a triennale 12 months so anticipate to see new works this season!

While you’re planning on which days to go to the Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale, many of the works might be open on the weekend (Saturdays and Sundays), however it might even be much more crowded.

Keep away from visiting ETAT on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as a result of most issues are closed then for upkeep. In 2023 I visited on Thursday and Friday – it was usually not crowded, however solely half the works had been open then.

The climate in early October was the tail finish of summer time, so across the low 20ºCs within the day, dropping to the excessive 10ºCs within the night the place you may want a light-weight jacket. Timber basically had been nonetheless fairly inexperienced – you want to go to in November for autumn foliage.

How lengthy do you want for Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale

I spent 3 nights in Niigata – 1 in Kawanishi staying in a single day on the James Turrell Home of Gentle, and a couple of nights at Koryukan Fureai in Tokamachi Metropolis (extra within the Tokmachi part), which felt like sufficient time to see the lots of the highlights, however you might wish to allocate your self extra time if you wish to go deep and go sluggish.

Tokamachi Picture Book Museum Goat Sign Me — Nonetheless very inexperienced throughout in October and simply barely cool. This was taken on the Image Ebook Museum in Tokamachi – that crimson goat signal actually appears like a horror film title for some cause

Find out how to get to Niigata

Southern Niigata is about 200km northwest of Tokyo. The best strategy to get from Tokyo to Niigata is to:

Take the Joetsu Shinkansen – Tokyo Station to Echigo Yuzawa – 1 Hr 20 minutes
Join by Prepare – Hokuhoku line from Echigo Yuzawa to Tokamachi/Matsudai (roughly 40 minutes)
Join by Automobile – lease a automotive at Echigo Yuzawa and drive to Nakasato (30mins) or Tokamachi (40 minutes)

Finest strategy to get round Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Discipline

Self-driving by automotive is by far one of the simplest ways to get round these components as a result of it’s fairly rural and mountainous. Among the artworks specifically are based mostly in distant places and never the best to go to.

Tip: Choose up a big paper information map firstly of your journey – it has each an in depth map with numbers + information and a photograph gallery of ALL the ETAT works which was simpler to seek advice from within the automotive as in comparison with scrolling on the telephone.

Among the works require a little bit of effort to get to, however fairly truthfully not all of them are well worth the effort when you’re quick on time so don’t really feel too pressured to cowl each single work. Many of the outside works are sculptures – I centered on the hubs and the bigger scale installations, and solely noticed sculptures in the event that they had been close by. Some works I simply randomly stumbled throughout with out even making an attempt!

My suggestion is to go to the works in clusters. Additionally, contemplate doing street journey fashion the place you keep in a distinct location each evening to maximise your visiting time and minimise having to make the drive again to your house base.

Through the Triennale years, they do have shuttle buses and guided excursions (in Japanese) to ferry you across the space which might help you discover the ETAT artwork subject extra effectively.

Tokamachi House of Light Car Me — Our cosy little grandma automotive. I like the large tactile buttons as an alternative of all of the touchscreens newer vehicles have these days!

Do you have to buy an ETAT admission passport

The outside installations of the Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale are free to view, however among the works require an entry payment. Relying on whenever you go and the way a lot you wish to see, it might make extra sense to purchase an Admission Passport (4,500 JPY for 2024 summer time season) that grants you entry to all of the works for one value.

This passport is often legitimate for a number of months, however it might be worthwhile to purchase even if you’re solely going to be utilizing it for only a few days. I purchased the 2023 passport which was legitimate from April to November for two,500 yen and whereas I didn’t handle to see the whole lot, it might have value me 5,400 yen to pay for entrance charges for what we visited if we didn’t have the cross.

The passports are largely legitimate for 1 go to per set up, however give 50% low cost for a revisit. I gave the cross to a good friend based mostly in Japan after my journey in case she needed to utilize the installations that I didn’t have time to go to.

Have you ever been to the Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale aka ETAT? Inform me what your favorite works are, I hope to return once more in a distinct season to see new works! Within the meantime try my different posts for extra issues to do in Niigata.

Echigo Tsumari Artwork Triennale information for the humanities lover in Niigata

Concerning the Echigo-Tsumari Artwork Triennale