Miho Museum

This past Saturday I took some very good advice from my Auntie Gail and went out to Shiga Prefecture (which is the Prefecture northeast to Kyoto) to visit the Miho Museum. The history of the museum is actually quite interesting because it all started with the founder's, Mihoko Koyama, ambition to create a museum for her private collection of the various antiques she had collected from around the world. In addition to her desire for a museum, Mihoko also founded the Shinji Shumeikai spiritual movement( a fairly new religion which, to my understanding is aimed at the channeling of the divine powers into various methods of healing) which was the reason for the specific location of the museum. She wanted her museum to be near the Shumeikai temple in the Shiga mountains. I also have no doubt that the gorgeous views also attracted her to the location.
Anyways, enough of the history, let me get to the point. The Miho Museum, designed by the renowned architect IM Pei (he also designed the Louvre) , is BEAUTIFUL! The design asethetics that Pei incorporated with the setting of the Shiga mountains is simply amazing! To be honest I have to say that I was more overwhelmed by the architecture than the museum's collection. Don't get me wrong, the collection (containing various pieces from Egypt, China, Persia, Greece, Rome, South Asia, and Japan) is impressive but the views and the structure of the building is what really makes the museum. And, from all the different books appears to take full advantage of each change of season. So I definitely plan to make a few more trips back there just to walk through the grounds again during winter and especially spring (I'll pass on summer, its just too damn hot).


This post is especially dedicated to my Auntie Gail who recommended this museum to me. Thank you Auntie Gail, I loved it!