Genichiro Inokuma
The Foundations of Kagawa as “the Art Prefecture”
Widely renowned as Japan’s “art prefecture” and architectural wonderland, including as host of the Setouchi Triennale, Kagawa is full of world-beating aesthetic treasures. Unpacking the history of the region’s transformation into a cosmopolitan cultural hub, in the years of Japan’s recovery after WWII we find “unofficial ambassador” Genichiro Inokuma serving as the common link in a network of international artists, architects and designers whose careers blossomed in the spectacular setting of Kagawa.
Planning the construction of new prefectural offices, then-governor Masanori Kaneko consulted fellow Kagawa native Inokuma, who introduced him to architect Kenzo Tange. Inokuma and Kaneko subsequently served as the hub of a far-reaching network of cultural exchange that grew to include sculptors Isamu Noguchi and Masayuki Nagare, who set up studios in the prefecture, plus designers and creators such as Isamu Kenmochi, George Nakashima and Kunibo Wada. In a move unusual for a public agency even today, Kaneko, dubbed by some the “design governor,” established a design office for the prefecture as part of the local administration.
Thus as early proponents of regional revitalization, and a forward-thinking, beneficial cycle of culture and business, Inokuma and Kaneko were preparing the ground for the transformation of Japan’s smallest prefecture into a cultural powerhouse.
Courtesy of Kagawa Prefectural Government
Kagawa Prefectural Government Office East Building
A leading example of the work of globally-renowned architect Kenzo Tange, the Kagawa Prefectural Government Office (now the East Building/completed 1958) was designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government in 2022. A traditional Japanese wooden building design translated to steel-reinforced concrete with consummate skill, these prefectural offices with columns, lobby and many other features designed to welcome all the people of Kagawa, also seemed to interrogate the condition of Japanese tradition, and democracy itself. Well-known artists and creators including Genichiro Inokuma and Isamu Kenmochi also worked on the building’s art and interiors, and its use of local resources including stone and woodwork reinforces the building’s status as the foundation of Kagawa’s reputation as “the art prefecture.”
Genichiro Inokuma connects Masanori Kaneko and Kenzo Tange
When consulted by then Kagawa governor Masanori Kaneko in 1954 on the construction of a new prefectural office, Inokuma introduced Kaneko to promising young architect Kenzo Tange. Kaneko believed architecture to be “a composite art,”*1 while to Inokuma, architecture was “the most marvelous of the arts.”*2 Both thus placed great importance on architectural design. Inokuma was responsible for the tiled mural Wa Kei Sei Jaku (Harmony, Respect, Purity, Tranquility) in the building’s ground floor lobby, which takes as its theme the tea ceremony spirit of mutual calm and respect.
*1. Kagawaken chōsha 1958, Roots Books, 2009, p. 32.
*2. “Taidan: Gendaitoshi to kaiga,” aaca 1993/3, no.12, p. 7.
Courtesy of The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan
The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan
The eclectic career of leading 20th-century sculptor Isamu Noguchi also encompassed landscape and interior design, and the performing arts. Between 1969, when he established a studio and residence in Kagawa, home of Aji stone, and his death in 1988, Noguchi worked in partnership with stone artist Masatoshi Izumi, while splitting his time between Kagawa and New York. The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan, realization of Noguchi’s wish to leave a source of inspiration for future artists, researchers and art lovers, opened in 1999. The entire site, including more than 150 sculptures, a gallery/storehouse personally chosen and relocated by Noguchi, Noguchi’s residence, and the sculpture garden, form a single environmental sculpture in its own right that is open to the public, while retaining as much as possible of the environment and ambience it possessed during the sculptor’s lifetime. A place to truly savor the cosmic, cosmopolitan, genre-bending, open-minded worldview of Isamu Noguchi.
Isamu Noguchi and Genichiro Inokuma
Noguchi and Inokuma met in 1950, when the sculptor came to Japan for his first solo exhibition in the country, visited Inokuma’s home on a whim, and ended up spending 40 days there. From then on Inokuma counted the sculptor as one of his most intimate friends, a bond that persisted until Noguchi’s death. In 1956, Inokuma introduced Noguchi to Kagawa, and after meeting then-governor Masanori Kaneko, architect Tadashi Yamamoto, and Masatoshi Izumi, the sculptor decided to set up a studio in the prefecture. In later years, delighted by the establishment of MIMOCA, Noguchi was keen to assist the museum in some way and made a number of suggestions to Inokuma. Although Noguchi’s death meant his proposals were never realized, to coincide with the staging in 1992 of Dear Heartfelt Friend, Isamu Noguchi, an exhibition of work by Noguchi and Inokuma, a piece of natural stone the sculptor apparently often contemplated was installed in the Cascade Plaza on the third floor of MIMOCA by special arrangement with Masatoshi Izumi, who understood Inokuma’s desire to pay homage to their beloved mutual friend.
Courtesy of Shikoku Mura Museum
This open-air museum situated in extensive grounds at the foot of Mt. Yashima gives visitors the opportunity to experience for themselves 33 restored historical buildings dating from the Edo through to the Taisho periods (between 1603 and 1925) including private houses, a sugar mill, village kabuki theater stage, rice storehouses, and a soy sauce brewery, all relocated here from the four prefectures of the island of Shikoku. Each was actually lived in or used by people, and their knowledge, labor, and prayers suffuse each pillar, everyday article on display. A stroll through the natural surroundings, lovely in every season, is accompanied by the soothing sounds of birdsong and waterfalls, perhaps revealing something lost from modern life. The village also includes attractions of such diverse interest as the Shikoku Mura Gallery, designed by Tadao Ando (with displays including works by Inokuma), and the Shikoku Mura Cafe, housed in an old ijinkan (foreign residence) transported from Kobe.
The Shikoku Mura Museum and Genichiro Inokuma
Attending the opening ceremony for this open-air museum in 1976, Inokuma was pleased to see the many old traditional homes. This led him to recommend architect Junzo Yoshimura to design the restaurant and restaurant owner’s house (not open to the public) situated below Shikoku Mura. In 2022 Shikoku Mura became Shikoku Mura Museum, a name taken from a message Inokuma wrote at the time of its opening. In 2023 the Inokuma Garden was added to the complex, complete with olive trees from Inokuma’s residence in Denenchofu, Tokyo.