A animist temple at the heart of Paris

Finally

a little Zen in this world of raw! At the time of the crash, the Guimet Museum offers a haven of tranquility to meditate on our plight to be oblivious of the nature and simple things. The Paris institution dedicated to Asian art has indeed been able to bring much decorative features of the sanctuary of Konpa-san. It is a feat never yet these fragile walls and sliding screens were out of the archipelago. Here, they have been raised by ensembles, as faithfully as possible. And these are pieces that are reconstructed with the soil, straw tatami rice perfectly braided. Empty spaces but not cleaned in the traditional manner. Beautiful and peaceful world ...

So the museum is it just this authentic Shinto shrine (anime) love between mountains and sea on the island of Shikoku. The pilgrimage to Konpa-san is one of the most popular country of the Rising Sun for over a millennium, and now four million visitors each year climb the 785 steps leading to his sacred heart.

< p> Artists wise and refined

At the museum, a curious less effort to do so. He entered directly into the spaces. Pass room cranes that tigers, room seven wise to that of Mount Fuji, willow, iris, spring ... Most of the decorations date from the eighteenth century. Nobody knows which set of panels is the most beautiful. Is it that all decorated with two hundred painted a flower with a deep sense of harmony of colors but also of modern botany? Is this the tigers, whose strange allure of big cats players in the middle of rocks and bamboo is because the monks who represented had never seen? Only after travelers they imagined these cats symbols of the West in ancient Chinese cosmology. Is it also on a gold background, the white- cranes, elegant waders supposed establish the link between earth and heaven, and who say the balance of the world? They were designed by Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795), sometimes because we know the names of these artists wise and refined.

Note also the Guimet Museum in parallel presentation of paintings by Yuichi Takahashi (1828 -- 1894), one of the first artists to use in Japan - was in the 1860s - oil painting and chosen as the favorite theme of still life. Finally, we note the presence of contemporary works, as Kyoji Takubo. They prove that Konpa-san is still living its golden age as this floral mural of 4 25 m is also delicate and monumental than the old ones. Artist loving sacred Takubo Kyoji has worked in France, in the chapel of Saint-Vigor-des-Monts, near Falaise, Normandy. He decorated with lush vegetation on the trees. His painting seems to proliferate, through the windows, outside of the place. A successful example of this art global presiding always the creation of temples and gardens in Japan.