Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 18 (Xinhua) -- On May 17, Xinhua Daily Telegraph published a report entitled "Entering Japan's "Peach Blossom Spring", Tracing the Han and Tang Dynasties and the Silk Road".
Hatanaka saw a green mountain turn into a paradise of I.M. Pei's dreams. It's just that instead of peach blossoms, weeping cherry blossoms dance in the wind every spring.
The 65-year-old has been working at the Mihide Museum for more than 30 years and is now the museum's head of academic affairs. Located in the Shigaraki Mountains in Koga City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, Akira Hatanaka remembers vividly that in the early 90s of the last century, there was nothing but rugged hiking trails. Last September, when he took us through a path lined with weeping cherry blossoms on both sides, he said, "When the cherry blossoms bloom, it's a place where the birds are singing and the flowers are singing. ”
At the beginning of April this year, he sent us a few pictures of cherry blossoms blooming through the dimly lit tunnel, and behind the cloudy cherry blossoms, it was reminiscent of a mysterious world.
The specific address of the Mishu Museum of Art is Tashiro Momoga, Shigaraki-cho, and although the name of the place has been around since ancient times, it is not difficult to see that this place has an inseparable cultural connection with China. "Xinle" comes from Wang Xizhi's "Orchid Pavilion Preface": "Looking up at the vastness of the universe and looking down at the prosperity of the category, it is enough to enjoy the entertainment of audio-visual and cola, and the letter is also cola"; Peach Valley is obviously from Tao Yuanming's "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring".
It's not easy to get to Meixiu, there are no trains or highways, and it takes almost an hour to drive through the winding mountain roads to get there. The museum is closed for one and a half months every three months, and buses are suspended on days when the museum is closed. "We didn't want to make Mihide a popular tourist spot, but we wanted visitors to be refreshed. ”
The Mishu Museum of Art takes its name from its founder, Mihideko Koyama, who was born in Osaka in 1910 and is the heir to Japan's Toyo Textile Company. Mihideko Koyama later became acquainted with the philosopher and spiritual mentor Shigeyoshi Okada, whom she studied for the rest of her life. Mihideko Koyama inherited Okada's belief that "the pursuit and exposure to beautiful things can lead to noble sentiments and a beautiful society," and she has made use of her wealth to collect artworks around the world based on her family's original collection.
Before Mihide's construction, Mihideko Koyama's collection of art could only be stored scattered at home or in museums in Kyoto. In 1987, she met the architect I.M. Pei and wanted the Chinese-American master to design an art gallery for her collection. Hill first found a place where two rivers meet, but Pei didn't like it. Just when I.M. Pei thought that Xiaoshan had given up, he suddenly received a call one day: "When can you come?" I've found other places. ”
To make sure that there were no power lines or any modern facilities around the museum, Mihideko Koyama bought everything as far as the eye could see around a valley floor on Mt. Shigara, and she told Pei, "Don't worry about money, there's no cap on the budget." ”
The site was in a valley surrounded by mountains, and a road had to be built to connect it to the outside world, but that would inevitably damage the surrounding environment, a suggestion that Pei rejected. When he learns that the land across the valley also belongs to the hills, a bold plan is immediately born: dig a tunnel, build a bridge, and a classical picture flashes into his mind.
I.M. Pei later recalled: "Ms. Koyama read a lot of classical Chinese literature, and we often used Chinese characters to communicate. I quoted the Jin Dynasty's essay "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring", and Ms. Koyama knew the story in that work, and the meaning I wanted to express was immediately understood by her. I am reminded of a typical Chinese landscape, with hillsides, canyons, surrounded by fog and looming buildings...... She and I were excited about the idea, and then it all began. ”
On November 3, 1997, after 7 years of construction, an art palace and a paradise were presented in front of people: walking through the trail of cherry blossoms, you will enter the 200-meter-long tunnel, the tunnel is a slow C-shaped structure, there are only very dim lights inside, and at the last moment, it suddenly opens up, a 120-meter-long suspension bridge is presented in front of you, and the deep valley under the bridge is murmuring, and the grass and trees are flourishing. Walking across the suspension bridge, surrounded by mountains, is the beauty of the green trees, and it is also the peach blossom source of Tao Yuanming's pen:
"Suddenly, there is a peach blossom forest, hundreds of steps between the shore, there are no miscellaneous trees, the grass is delicious, the fallen flowers are colorful, and the fishermen are very different. Moving forward again, I want to exhaust the forest. When the forest runs out of water, there will be a mountain, and the mountain has a small mouth, as if there is light. Drop off the boat and enter from the mouth. At the beginning, it is extremely narrow, and only then can it be passed. After dozens of steps, it suddenly became clear. ”
Akira Hata said that the roof of the museum's main entrance was borrowed from the structure of a Japanese temple, and the gate was Chinese-style, and according to the original design, "dragon-shaped" trees were planned to be planted on both sides of the entrance, but this tree could not be found in Japan, so pine trees were planted. Overall, I.M. Pei used the same design as the Louvre in France, with a combination of French marble, a large amount of glass and a quadrangular pyramid of transparent pyramids to create a state that resembles a mountain peak or canyon.
The museum has a total construction area of 17,000 square meters, but only 15% of the buildings are exposed to the ground.
In a 2017 essay about art museums, renowned American architecture and art writer Philip Jotidio wrote: "I.M. Pei explored the original architectural expression of China, but with modern shapes, and he coincided with Mihideko Koyama and followed the idea of the Peach Blossom Spring." It is a place where art, nature, and architecture resonate with each other, and has become a paradise on earth in every sense of the word. ”
Commenting on I.M. Pei's work, Takeshi Umehara, the first director of the Mishu Museum of Art, said, "There is no better work in Japan's post-war buildings than Mihide." Ma Weidu, a collector of Chinese cultural relics, visited Meixiu many times, and when he went to Meixiu during the cherry blossom season, he looked back from the tunnel and saw the pink "falling flowers", and constantly sighed "superb scenery" and "shock".
Of course, Meixiu is not only low-key and luxurious in appearance, but also worthy of its appearance. In addition to ancient Chinese art, lacquerware, ceramics, Buddha statues, and tea sets, the collection of more than 3,000 pieces also includes precious cultural relics from Egypt, West Asia, Greece, Rome, Central Asia, South Asia, and other countries in East Asia. Looking at these works is like traveling to ancient civilizations in Eurasia, and you can see how they influenced each other. In fact, it can be seen from the names of these countries that almost all of the collections come from the civilizations along the Silk Road, where you can appreciate the brilliant brilliance of the Han and Tang dynasties.
A 1.24-meter-tall bronze horse of the Eastern Han Dynasty stands with its head held high, its right front hoof slightly raised, its posture light, and its expression serious. The image of this horse is obviously the "heavenly horse" admired in the Western Regions, and it was during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the Silk Road was opened. Akira Hatanaka said that the horse was different from the chariot horses of the Qin Shi Huang era, the horse's eyes were triangular, the ears were erect high, and the horse's gasping sound seemed to be heard from the wide open mouth.
Another pure gold horse of the Western Han Dynasty is even more breathtaking, this horse weighs about 7 kilograms, according to cultural relics expert Ma Weidu, the horses unearthed in China are gilded, and there is only one pure gold. In the dimly lit exhibition hall, Ma Jinguang is bright, and it is impossible to imagine that more than 2,000 years have passed.
We are intrigued by a Tang Dynasty flower and bird hunting pattern Baqu cup, because next to this fine silver-gilt utensil, there is an identical shape but an Iranian Sassanid cup of origin. Such artworks exchanged through the Silk Road were very common in Meixiu, such as the pattern of the pot from Iran, but it was exactly the same as the pattern of Chinese silk.
"As the Tang Dynasty expanded its territory into Central Asia at its peak, textiles and metalware of this era had a strong international cultural foundation, with common patterns from East Asia to West Asia," says Akira Hatanaka. Gold and silver ware from West Asia was also sent to the Tang Dynasty as tribute, and various West Asian utensils and patterns were later developed and fused by Chinese craftsmen to become a unique Chinese design style. ”
Among the many Chinese cultural relics, the most favorite and most valuable of Hatanaka Zhangliang is a 26 cm long and 4 cm diameter gold and silver umbrella of the Western Han Dynasty. Wrong gold and silver is a bronze decoration process, named after the inlay of gold and silver wires on the surface of the object. The height of this umbrella is inlaid with filigree with various animal motifs such as camels, birds, bears, and peacocks, and the level of beauty is breathtaking.
"It's one of a kind." He said. It was revealed that the umbrella was won by Meixiu at an auction in the United States more than 20 years ago and cost $5 million.
After majoring in law at Akira Hatanaka University and later negotiating land acquisition at a company, he joined Mihideko Koyama's team in 1986 when he was confronted with plans to open a museum.
Over the years, Akira Hatanaka has organized many themed exhibitions on Chinese cultural relics, including "The Crossroads of Chinese Beauty: The Road to the Tang Dynasty Civilization" and "The Essence of Terracotta Figurines from Chang'an", etc., allowing the Japanese to further understand the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty that they have always longed for, and the influence of Tang aesthetics on Japan for more than 1,000 years.
It has been 27 years since the opening of the museum. Witnessing the museum's growth from scratch and experiencing the excitement of its opening, Akira Hatanaka has also reached retirement age, and he says that he has found the value of life in this paradise: "I have been interested in art since I was a child, and I feel lucky to be able to find an art-related job. It is a real blessing to be able to touch the work on the spot and learn while directly feeling what the work is emanating. ”
"If you're feeling down, come to Miso, and you'll definitely leave with a calm mood," he said. ”