About Our Museum
Message from the Director
The Tateyama Museum of Toyama is dedicated to Tateyama, one of Japan’s most renowned sacred mountains and a spiritual symbol to the people of Toyama. It showcases the majestic nature of Tateyama and the spiritual world of Tateyama Worship nurtured here.
The museum opened on November 1, 1991 in Ashikuraji, Tateyama Town, Toyama Prefecture. Ashikuraji was once a key settlement of Tateyama Worship, and still retains historical structures, landscapes, and artifacts today. The museum is designed to depict the entire Ashikuraji area as a single ‘open-air museum,’ encouraging visitors to explore, learn, and experience the faith-centered lifestyle that once thrived here.
Under the theme of “The Interconnection Between Humans and Nature in Tateyama,” the museum collects and preserves a variety of materials related to nature, history, and culture. It aims to serve educational and recreational purposes through comprehensive research and the exhibition of these materials and research findings.
Symbol Mark
- Sugiura Kohei
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The symbol mark was designed by Sugiura Kohei, one of Japan’s leading graphic designers and a researcher of Asian iconography. It features a mandala-inspired design.
Architecture
- Isozaki Arata
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These buildings were designed by Isozaki Arata, who is hailed as a pioneer of postmodern architecture and a laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Tenjikan features a structure that allows light to stream in from the top, with exterior walls made of brick tiles resembling traditional roof tiles, harmonizing with the surrounding landscape.
Yobokan, standing in a corner of the cemetery, is a facility where visitors can experience a symbolic death and rebirth. Its impressive wooden structure creates a vast space, featuring windows reminiscent of traditional temple and shrine architecture (kato-mado).
- Rokkaku Kijo
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The Mandala Yuen was designed by the architect Rokkaku Kijo. This space attempts to bring the world of Tateyama Mandalas to life using elements such as artistic objects, sound, light, and fragrance.