“Ohara Museum of Art,” a cultural institution Kurashiki is proud of.
It opened in 1930 to display Western art, Egyptian and Middle Eastern art, Chinese art, and paintings by Kojima Torajiro, collected by Ohara Magosaburo (who entrusted the task to the Western-style painter Kojima Torajiro, whom he supported as a patron).
It is said that the museum was built to realize the vision of an art museum in Sakazu after Kojima Torajiro died the previous year, in 1929.
The building now known as the “Ohara Museum of Art Main Building” is generally described as “a building like a Greek temple.” In the Bikan Historical Area, where traditional wooden buildings dating back to the Edo period stand in rows, it may seem out of place.
However, it embodies many ideas, including consideration for Kurashiki’s townscape and for Ohara Magosaburo and Kojima Torajiro.
The architect responsible for the design was a man named “Yakushiji Kazue.”
This article examines the “Ohara Museum of Art Main Building” as a work of architecture.
Photography is normally prohibited inside the Ohara Museum of Art. Special permission was granted for this occasion.
The information presented was current when this article was published in September 2022. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About the Ohara Museum of Art
Opened in 1930, the Ohara Museum of Art was Japan’s first private museum devoted primarily to Western art.
Today, it comprises the Main Building, the Annex, the Crafts and Oriental Art Gallery, and the Shin-Kojimakan (provisional name).
As of September 2022, the Annex is closed, so the Main Building also displays modern Japanese paintings and contemporary art. Under normal circumstances, however, its exhibits focus on Western art.
Although the building’s basic structure has not changed significantly since it opened in 1930, an extension project in 1991 resulted in the Main Building’s current configuration:
- Main Building
- A “glass atrium” between the Main Building and the administration building
- A “new exhibition wing” behind the Main Building
Many celebrated paintings now highly regarded today are displayed in the Main Building, including El Greco’s The Annunciation, Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, and Paul Gauguin’s The Delightful Land.
For this reason, the Ohara Museum of Art is often thought of as a “museum housing masterpieces of modern art.” However, since the time Kojima Torajiro began collecting, the museum has focused on acquiring works by artists of its own time.
Even today, the museum supports living artists through its ARKO artist-in-residence program, which provides assistance with creating works, as well as through special exhibitions and art acquisitions. It is a museum that also devotes considerable effort to cultural programs.
The vision of Magosaburo and Torajiro—to show authentic Western art for the development of Japanese art—continues to be carried forward today.
The Ohara Museum of Art Main Building was designed by architect Yakushiji Kazue
Photo: Collection of Yasutsugu Ueda
The Ohara Museum of Art Main Building was designed by architect Yakushiji Kazue, who was born in Soja City, Okayama Prefecture.
Yurin-so Villa and the Daiichi Godo Bank Kurashiki Branch (Chugoku Bank Kurashiki Honmachi Branch Office, now the “Shin-Kojimakan (provisional name)”) were also designed by Yakushiji Kazue.
After graduating from the Department of Architecture at the Tokyo Imperial University College of Engineering in 1909, he served as an engineer for the Ministry of the Army. He later became an engineer appointed by the Emperor, but resigned at his own request in response to Ohara Magosaburo’s appeal and became a director of Kurashiki Silk Textile Co., Ltd. (now Kuraray Co., Ltd.).
His appointment as a director suggests that Yakushiji Kazue had not only architectural knowledge but also a broad business sense, including accounting and facilities management, and was recognized for what we would now call management skills.
Those abilities were also put to use in the construction of the Ohara Museum of Art Main Building.
The construction period was only about “six months.”
It was completed in an extraordinarily short time by today’s standards, demonstrating his strong execution skills and abilities in design, estimating, scheduling, and budget management.
The Main Building is not Greek temple-style, but “Roman temple-style”
The most distinctive feature of the Ohara Museum of Art Main Building’s exterior is the “columns” at its entrance.
It is “a building like a Greek temple,” represented by the Parthenon.
This is how it is often described. I, too, used to think of it that way.
However, to be precise, it is “Roman temple-style architecture.” There are four reasons:
- Greek temples were “columnar architecture,” often built on hills, with columns erected around the temple.
- Roman temples were built facing town squares and roads, so the design of the front was emphasized.
- The pediment at the front (the triangular wall section beneath the roof) is simple and undecorated.
- Unlike Greek temples, where stone steps were built on all four sides of the building, Roman temples have steps only at the front.
Taking these points into account, the Ohara Museum of Art Main Building can be understood as Roman temple-style rather than Greek temple-style architecture.
The Main Building is not made of stone, but of steel-reinforced concrete (SRC)
Since it is a “Roman temple-style” building, many people may assume it is made of stone.
In fact, the Ohara Museum of Art Main Building was made of “steel-reinforced concrete (SRC).” This method is commonly used today for high-rise buildings, but it was state-of-the-art construction technology in 1930.
Yakushiji Kazue experienced the Great Kanto Earthquake while working for the Ministry of the Army and helped rebuild army facilities. His knowledge and experience likely led him to choose a stronger construction method for a place that would house works of art.
The walls, which look like stone, are also finished with tamped mortar (a mixture of cement and sand).
Stone is used only in the plinth section with the front steps. It is said that the granite used there came from Konko (present-day Konko Town, Asakuchi City).
Plinth
The foundation of a building, raised one level above the ground
The decorative capitals atop the columns (in the Ionic style) are also finished in mortar. It is said that the Ohara family could have afforded to build everything entirely of stone at the time.
However, Yakushiji deliberately chose not to do so, considering how to keep construction costs down while creating an even finer building.
This can be seen as an expression of both his consideration for the Ohara family and Yakushiji Kazue’s design philosophy and business sense.
The presence of the steel frame became clear during the 1991 extension work.
When entering the glass building called the “atrium” from the first floor of the Main Building today, the steel frame is exposed.
Many people apparently think this is an “art object” created with some intention, but it is actually the steel frame used in the Main Building.
It has been polished to a shine, but even now, more than 90 years after the museum opened, it continues to support the building.
An “eco-friendly structure” that makes active use of natural light
One major difference between the Ohara Museum of Art Main Building as it was in 1930, when it was built, and today is its lighting.
Today, museums—including the Ohara Museum of Art—rely heavily on artificial lighting, to prevent paintings from being sun-damaged or fading. Ultraviolet rays are a major threat to paintings.
However, in 1930, not only electricity but also lighting fixtures were scarce and expensive.
For this reason, the building was designed to make active use of “natural light,” and the second-floor gallery, as it is today, had a “skylight.”
The “round window,” now one of the Ohara Museum of Art’s iconic features, is also said to have been installed to bring light from the second-floor stairwell into the glass skylight of the first-floor office (no longer in use).
A closer look at the exterior and interior of the Ohara Museum of Art Main Building
Now, let’s take a closer look at the Ohara Museum of Art Main Building, focusing on its architecture.
The entrance light is said to have been acquired by Kojima Torajiro, who dreamed of building an art museum.
Why European architecture?
By the way, even before considering the difference between Greek temple style and Roman temple style, have you ever wondered, “Why is the main building of the Ohara Museum of Art Western architecture?”
The Bikan Historical Area is a place where traditional streetscapes dating back to the Edo period remain, and this must also have been true in 1930.
Yakushiji Kazue also designed Western- and Japanese-style buildings that were mainstream at the time, including Yurin-so Villa and the Kurashiki Branch of the First Joint Bank (now the “Shin-Kojimakan (provisional name)”). He was probably capable of designing anything, technically speaking.
Perhaps he believed that “by designing a building that returned to the roots of Western architecture and art in the form of a Roman temple, it could be accepted as a building that transcended all eras, just like works of fine art and art.”
That is what Yasutsugu Ueda, professor emeritus at Notre Dame Seishin University, told us.
From the Writer
When visiting the Ohara Museum of Art, we tend to focus on the artworks, but more than 90 years have passed since the main building was constructed, and the building itself can be said to have historical value.
Furthermore, Imabashi Bridge, which spans the area in front of the Ohara Museum of Art, was also designed by Yakushiji Kazue, and features a dragon carved by Kojima Torajiro.
Professor Ueda said that the stone wall in front of the Ohara Museum of Art was renovated in its existing form with a “curve like a writhing dragon (its body),” and may have been created according to a consistent design concept with Imabashi Bridge.
Even though the designer was the same, designing things from different eras with a sense of unity also feels like the kind of town planning that is characteristic of the Bikan Historical Area.
Yakushiji Kazue was not widely known as an architect, but he can be said to have laid the foundations for the Bikan Historical Area as we know it today.
Looking beyond the artworks on display at the Ohara Museum of Art to the building itself may give you a different perspective from usual.
- Article reviewed by: Yasutsugu Ueda, Professor Emeritus at Notre Dame Seishin University; Urabe Sekkei Co., Ltd.
- Photography: Nako Yoshino (some photos)
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