Located on the craggy and windblown coast of western Japan, Tottori Prefecture has long lent itself to the moody and artistic. The name of the San’in region, comprising Tottori and Shimane prefectures, literally means “the shadowy side of the mountain,” and the area is known as the “Land of the Gods,” where tales of Shinto kami and yōkai (spirits) originated.
Though it has long been a source of inspiration for creative minds, Tottori is Japan’s least populous prefecture and nearly the last to establish its own public art museum. That is, until March 30, with the official opening of the Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art.
Gov. Shinji Hirai and the family of manga master and Tottori native Mizuki Shigeru were among the participants in a ribbon-cutting ceremony held March 28 on the museum’s grounds in Kurayoshi, a historical city of just under 45,000. The following day was filled with festivities that attracted a crowd of 12,000 and included live performances and a street parade with 1,000 revelers. The atmosphere inside the museum and outside on its grassy lawn was one of both triumph and the casual pleasure of a Georges Seurat painting.