Mosaic Tile Museum, Tajimi, Art museum in Kasahara Town, Tajimi, Japan
The Mosaic Tile Museum in Kasahara is an art museum spread across multiple floors with sixteen showrooms containing about 10,000 objects. The collection includes tiles, historical artifacts, and manufacturing equipment from the region's tile production history.
The museum opened in 2016 after local organizations worked to preserve the region's tile-making heritage, which traces back to the early 1900s. These efforts came from a desire to document the area's industrial traditions for future generations.
The museum displays tiles from traditional Japanese bathhouses, showing how these materials shaped domestic spaces over generations. You can see how patterns and colors in the tiles reflected the tastes and daily lives of people.
The best way to reach the museum is by bus from Tajimi Station, which makes access relatively straightforward. It helps to check bus schedules beforehand, as service may not run frequently throughout the day.
The building was designed by architect Terunobu Fujimori to mirror clay quarries, with pine trees and pottery fragments built into the sloping structure. The facade features tiles in many colors, reflecting the craft heritage of the area.
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