I wrote recently that Ibaraki Prefecture also suffered greatly in the Great East Japan Earthquake, yet compared with the three Tohoku prefectures it draws less attention—a worry for prefectural officials. Cultural properties were hit hard. According to the prefecture's website, of 744 nationally designated cultural properties damaged nationwide, Ibaraki accounts for 182 (as of March 1 this year)—one quarter, the most. Falls of lacquered walls at Old Kodokan in Mito and cracks at Korakuen are known, but the "Hexagonal Hall" at Izura on the northern coast in Kita-Ibaraki City being swept away leaving only its foundation shocked residents.
　The red hexagonal hall was designed by Okakura Tenshin, who laid the foundations of modern Japanese art, and built in 1905 (Meiji 38). After resigning as president of Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts), Tenshin founded the Japan Art Institute at scenic Izura with its coves and pine groves, calling disciples Yokoyama Taikan and Shimomura Kanzan to pursue modernization of Japanese painting. They gazed at the Pacific sunrise from the Hexagonal Hall in contemplation, no doubt. Staying at a nearby hotel, I cannot forget the elegant form on the cliff seen across the cove.
　Ibaraki University, which owned and managed the hall, set up a "recovery fund" and raised about ¥38 million in a short time (photo: fundraising flyer). Construction began last November; the completion ceremony arrives on the 17th. To restore its original appearance, tiles came from Aichi and glass from Britain wherever period methods could be reproduced. It should become a symbol of Ibaraki striving for post-disaster recovery.
　From central Tokyo where Palaceside Building stands, take the JR Joban Line limited express "Super Hitachi" from Ueno about 1 hour 50 minutes, alight at Otsu Port Station, about 10 minutes by car. The Ibaraki Tenshin Memorial Museum of Art is nearby.