Gain a comprehensive understanding of historical and contemporary Japanese art and culture
Visit fascinating temples, including Yashima-ji and Zentsu-ji, both on the 88-temple Shikoku pilgrimage, and Horyu-ji, the oldest surviving temple in Japan, containing important early Buddhist art treasures
Discover beautiful Japanese garden design, with visits to an array of sites including Okayama’s Koraku-en Garden, one of Japan’s best landscape gardens, and experience the country’s breath-taking natural scenery
Fully booked - please contact us on 01223 841055 to be added to the waiting list.
“I have never encountered a tour guide as knowledgeable as Dr Koller in all my (many) years of art tours”
- ACE customer on a previous tour with Alex Koller
Japan is a country of cultural riches and varied landscapes: while it is famed for traditions such as the tea ceremony as well as its modern technological achievements, a closer inspection reveals a much broader range of traditions and aesthetic sensibilities. For centuries, the arts of Japan were synonymous with Buddhist culture, and these will be a focus of our tour, with visits to the art collections of Tokyo and Nara, and the temples of Kyoto and its environs.
Japan’s history is palpably experienced at castle sites such as Inuyama, Himeji and Edo – now the Imperial Palace – at the very centre of Tokyo. Military architecture of this type can be related to vernacular building traditions that survive in the form of traditional farmhouses in mountain settlements like Shirakawa-go. We hope to include an overnight stay in a UNESCO-listed building of this type during our tour.
We will also encounter historical vernacular architecture at open-air museums such as Gasshozukuri Minkaen and Shikoku-mura, and in surviving historical districts in Kanazawa and Kurashiki. The latter boasts perfectly preserved Edo period streets, with the Bikan historical quarter featuring beautiful buildings surrounding a willow-lined canal.
Our itinerary includes visits to a wealth of gardens: the richness of Japanese garden design is evident at a number of temple and castle sites but especially at the large-scale strolling gardens of the Edo period, such as Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Ritsurin in Takamatsu and Koraku-en in Okayama. Koraku-en is regarded as one of Japan’s three best landscape gardens, with its winding paths, ponds and views of the reconstructed Okayama Castle serving as ‘borrowed scenery’. Further highlights will include Ueno Park in Tokyo, an early example of a public park, and the famous Zen gardens of the Ryoan-ji and Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto.
As well as art, architecture and garden design, this tour will delve into the rich heritage of Japanese applied arts, with visits to a Kutani kiln and a gold leaf workshop in Kanazawa.
Japan is notable for its highly varied countryside, and we will experience a variety of beautiful scenery during our journeys – from the cedar forests of Northern Honshu around Nikko, where the Tosho-gu Grand Shrine offers a contrast of deep forests and sophisticated architecture, to the Chuzeniji Lake and Kegon waterfalls, and the coastline on the Pacific Ocean, the Japan Sea and the Seto Inland Sea. We will also take in the mountains of central Japan and, weather permitting, hope to enjoy views of Mount Fuji.
In addition to exploring traditional culture, this tour offers an opportunity to gain an understanding of the transformation of old Edo into modern Tokyo, and to get a feel for life in contemporary Japan, with the chance to enjoy local cuisine and to use its highly efficient public transport system in Tokyo and the well-known Shinkansen ‘bullet train’. Kyoto Railway Station, the ‘floating’ Kansai Airport and the Seto-Ohashi Bridge between the main island and Shikoku demonstrate the achievements of modern Japanese design and engineering.
This tour will be led by art historian Alex Koller, PhD. Alex studied in Vienna, Salzburg and Cambridge and is an accomplished linguist. He has been leading tours since 1998, and his experience ranges from Japan and Southeast Asia to Russia and Eastern Europe. As a result of his travels to the Far East, Alex has developed a keen interest in Buddhist art and architecture, and he looks forward to delving into Japan’s history, art and landscape with another ACE group in 2023.
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£6495
JAAU-23
