The art gallery “Hakutai” and the art room “Kohoo” are spaces where contemporary art meets traditional crafts. This project was realized through the collaboration of contemporary artists and master artisans from the Kyoto and Tamba regions, including ceramicists, obi weavers, plaster artisans, and washi paper craftsmen.

Guests are invited to walk through the iron tunnels in the lobby symbolizing the contrasting concepts of heaven and earth, life and death, physical and metaphysical. The name Hakutai (hundred generations) is in reference to the eternal travelers from Li Bai’s poem The Spring Evening Banquet in the Peach and Pear Blossom Garden. The suite draw inspiration from Yukio Mishima’s “Icarus”.

Upon entering the lobby, guests first encounter “Study for Japanese Art – Hokusai” (2021) from Yanagi’s Ant Farm series. Passing through the tunnel, they arrive at the fifth-floor art room “Kohoo”, designed to embody heaven and earth. The Heaven Room features a transparent cubicle bathtub with a rainbow prism and a wall installation “Loves me, Loves me not” created in collaboration with washi artist Wataru Hatano, depicting scattered chrysanthemum petals. The Earth Room showcases works by ceramic artist Naoto Ishii, including a distorted, scorched and broken vase fired in a 1,200°C climbing kiln, and a green Oribe-glazed ceramic wall. A stone-coffin-like bathtub by plaster artisan Akira Kusumi and a sunset-colored earthen wall evoke the burning hues of dusk. This room also houses Yanagi’s work “Bird in a Cage”, featuring a Japanese sword inscribed with Article 9 of the Constitution, symbolizing the pulse of life, death, and rebirth. Between heaven and earth, a traditional tatami guest room is adorned with an obi inspired by Itō Jakuchū’s chrysanthemums, crafted by master obi weaver Genbei Yamaguchi.
The mirror-lined tunnel connecting the two realms reflects a verse from Mishima’s “Icarus,” leading visitors to the juxtaposition of “Chrysanthemum and Sword,” evoking Japan’s cultural duality.