Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art - Kyushu Geibunkan (Chikugo)

Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art - Kyushu Geibunkan (Chikugo)

Despite its location right next to Chikugo Funagoya Station (a normal JR station and shinkansen station right next to each other), there is almost nothing near Kyushu Geibunkan, besides the Softbank Hawks baseball stadium. I saw a flyer for a special art and music exhibit for only 210 yen, and had never been to Chikugo, which isn’t too far from where I live. It had been a long week, so I decided to go alone, to explore at my own pace. The exhibit was very small, as I expected, but the building’s architecture looked great from their website photos. There was a separate flower arrangement exhibit and most of the Geibunkan is workshop spaces. The place was almost deserted - I was the only one in the main exhibit during the 15 minutes or so it took to look at everything. The art was loosely based on music themes, not as much as I had hoped for, but some interesting screen prints and paintings. I think the size of the exhibit was perfect for me. I end up exhausted if I try to see everything in a normal size museum. In the café building, there was a bamboo structure with seating and some recordings that could be played and heard only inside. I didn’t really understand how to experience it, but the structure was still pretty. Nearby there was a cooking class going on in one of the workshops. Behind the museum, there is a huge park and a river, almost nothing to be seen anywhere nearby that side of the stations. I walked north about fifteen minutes towards the store with omiyage suggested by the information center employee. There is also an onsen in that area with a free ‘ashiyu’ (foot bath) outside the building, which I took advantage of. The omiyage shop was more of a green grocer with some local products (Yame tea, amaou strawberry products, etc.), mostly from the region, not the city of Chikugo, so they weren’t any different from what I can buy in my city. A bit too far for me to walk on a humid day, there is a famous shrine in Chikugo called Koinoki Shrine (恋木神社) which is especially popular for women. I was disappointed at the lack of anything remotely close to see after the short trip to the museum, but it wasn’t bad. Japanese website: http://www.kyushu-geibun.jp/