Exploring Japan - A Visit to the Osaka Prefectural Sayamaike Museum

For Wednesday's architectural post I took a trip to the rural area of Osakasayama that's situated outside of Osaka in Japan. It took an hour or so to arrive from Umeda Station but I definitely think it was worth it, especially for someone like me who is interested in the architecture of Tadao Ando. This building is a unique museum by an ancient reservoir which exhibits history on Japanese irrigation systems, sounds a little boring but was surprisingly very interesting.

The area of Osakasayama is very quiet and in traditional Japanese fashion has bad signage! haha I always think that this is the funny part of Japanese destinations, there is very poor signage and it always surprises me how a tourist would even be able to find this location. Luckily I had the internet! haha When approaching the building I was surprised by the scale of it and the echoes that reverberated around this structure, in many ways it felt spiritual. I think it helped that I was exploring this space by myself.

This project began with the aim of preserving the remains of an ancient intake from the Kamakura period that was found nearby. They decided to extend the bank of the adjacent reservoir and use a restraint style to match the water work nature of the surrounding environment. From the front the museum features a water garden exposed under two waterfalls. Unfortunately they weren't flowing on this day but it was still an amazing spectacle just seeing the scale of it and the combination of concrete and sculpture with water. I will never forget.

Here are a few photos of this piece of architecture by Tadao Ando. You should visit if you have more time in Osaka and are interested in modern architecture, I think you will appreciate this building and the art-like qualities that it holds.