Blurb: On our meandering adventure of a honeymoon in May-June 2019, we travelled by many means of convenience including a wide variety of trains, rental cars, occasional coach buses and what not. See the whole Shinkonryoko Scrapbook for a mixed-media ephemera overview and a list of places visited for the curious.
As such, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa-ken (a city filled with exceptional museums – by my standards, especially small, specialized, and a little bit quirky) we visited the D.T. (Daisetz) Suzuki Zen museum.
DT Suzuki Zen Museum (map): https://goo.gl/maps/9SWpxbjfF9pM2R386
Museum page (Kanazawa tourism): https://www.kanazawa-museum.jp/daisetz/english/about.html
DT Suzuki (wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._T._Suzuki
This esteemed gentleman was largely the driving force for introducing the concept of Zen Buddhism to the “west” in contemporary times. He spoke several languages and traveled widely, certainly influencing notable figures as Alan Watts and Gary Snyder and possibly you.
The museum is a modern, rendered concrete designed by Yoshio Taniguchi largely assembled rectangles with a water courtyard with large windows playing with light against the garden.
As one might expect, lots of space for contemplation throughout the buildings, long empty hallways, simple signage, a few large pictures and wonderful scrolls.
The most wonderful of the wonderful scrolls was the one that said “wonderful, wonderful and most wonderful wonderful! and yet again, wonderful …” of which i purchased many as well as several books – other postcards as well but I should’ve purchased more of the “wonderful” postcard as it brings so much joy to my heart to send out into the world (wonderful paper stock and design touches too).
PS Once I’ve read Suzuki sensei’s whole book, I will let you know more about it but I’m finding the type face a little bit hard for me :-) In the meanwhile, i’ll continue to use time, gazing into the distance from pleasant locales.
Worth noting that the museum was located in basically a residential neighborhood, tucked out of the way, rather inconspicuous but welcoming. Even the parking lot was calm (though we travelled there by bus so was hardly relevant except for the general enjoyment of calm places).
One more time, highly recommend Kanazawa as a place to visit, much less crowded than certain other more famous “capital/historical cities.”
Field Notes regarding exhibit/museum/gallery/garden dossiers:
These posts, such as they are, are for recollection, inspiration, reference and possible remixing. I say this to remind myself these round-ups are not meant to be textbooks, comprehensive guides, analysis – critical or otherwise, or a “master’s thesis”. So much goodness in these exhibits – whether grand and well-funded museums or (my favourite) grassroots operations, or even spontaneous art around the edges in unexpected circumstances – that i enjoy archiving.
Also noting often, museums have a “no photo” policy and of course, art and artifacts are best experienced in-person, or with fine reproductions at least, so consider my humble dossirs as a stand-in, in the meanwhile, with a special eye to shut-ins and other who have a hard time getting out and about.
As such, these round-ups will be lightly annotated with usually (just) the name of the museum, possible circumstance and/or approximate date of the visit, possible link to museum website and or map for your reference and then a flow of photos.
I almost always buy museum exhibit books, as well as many other items from the gift shop, so if you have any specific questions about any of the pieces displayed, please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to add some additional colour commentary – no guarantees.
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