Treasures of Japan: Temples, Gardens and Museums

Santa Barbara Museum of Art

With a post-trip extension to Osaka and Mount Koya

November 04 - November 16, 2008

Land Program Cost: $6,990 (based on double occupancy)

Study Leader - Meher McArthur

Meher McArthur is Curator of East Asian Art at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California, where she has been working since 1998. Meher has been a student of Japanese culture and art for twenty years. She has curated several exhibitions of Japanese art at Pacific Asia Museum and at ...more

Summary

Celebrate Fall in Japan when the colors of autumn sweep the country with brilliant yellow, orange and red leaves known as kou-you. One of the most beautiful sights in Asia, it is a time when ceremonies and festivals take place and there is a special crispness in the air.

Thoroughly modern yet highly traditional, Japan is a land of contrasts and enigmas for the western visitor. The elegance and simplicity of Japan’s modern architecture, the subtle elusiveness of Japanese gardens, and even the cutting-edge design seen everywhere from graphics to kitchenware are all deeply rooted in the country’s oldest traditions — the gracefully sloping roofs of centuries-old wooden temples, the stark tranquility of the Zen garden, and the medieval aesthetic wabi-sabi that celebrates the humble beauty of the natural world.

We will explore these contrasts as we cross the heart of Japan from Tokyo to Kyoto with our lecturer-leader, Meher McArthur, Curator of East Asian Art at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California.

Visit classic gardens, ancient temples, and sacred sites as well as recent architectural highlights: I.M. Pei’s Miho Museum near Kyoto, Gluckman Mayner’s celebrated new Mori Museum in Tokyo, and the Benesse House Art Site designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando.

An optional extension following the tour is based for two nights in Osaka and includes an overnight in temple lodgings at the peak of Mount Koya where over 100 temples occupy a small town. Visit uniquely beautiful places that have inspired centuries of Japanese writers and poets: the extensive temple complex at Mount Hiei; the largest body of freshwater in Japan, Lake Biwa; and the magnificent gardens of the Ishiyama Temple, where Lady Murasaki wrote the classic, The Tales of Genji.