The Osaka Prefectural Chikatsu Asuka Museum: A Modern-Day Tumulus

The region of Chikatsu Asuka once thrived as a gateway to Asia and a hub between Japan’s historical capitals in present-day Nara and Osaka. Still today, one can see numerous historical remains from the Kofun and Asuka periods (3rd century–8th century).

The Osaka Prefectural Chikatsu Asuka Museum, another one of Ando’s well-known works, was built as a research and exhibition facility dedicated to the tumulus (kofun) culture of the Chikatsu Asuka region. The museum forms the centerpiece of an archaeological park that is home to more than 100 tumuli.

When Ando visited the location for the first time and saw the tumuli and historic sites dotting the landscape, he conceived the idea to create “an environmental experiential museum focused on engaging the historied landscape” rather than simply showcasing excavated artifacts.
 
Ando explored the possibilities of how the architecture could be sited to read as one with its surroundings and developed the design as a hill overlooking the landscape.

The completed building is topped by a stepped terrace, which truly gives it the appearance of a hill that is a part of the landscape.


This project perhaps most boldly embodies Ando’s approach that considers architecture not as a free-standing entity but as a landscape integrated with its surrounding environment.

The stepped terrace provides an observation platform from which one can survey the landscape or enjoy the seasonal flowers. On occasion, it is also used as an open-air stage for theater and music festivals.

Imbued with the dualities of natural and artificial, building and infrastructure, and life and death, this expression of human will etched into the earth certainly presents itself as a work of architecture worthy of being called a “modern-day tumulus”.

Lit by a skylight from above, the inner space at the base of the stairs has a subterranean feel and unfolds into exhibition spaces infused with a rich sense of drama.

The central permanent exhibition room is shaped like a so-called “square-front, round-back tumulus” (zenpōkōhōfun). It contents include various excavated items such as funerary sculptures and vessels, as well as a large diorama of the ancient tumuli, which offer a glimpse into the lives of the people who constructed the tumuli.

Conceptualizing the museum as including the environment beyond the building itself, Ando’s vision included plans to continue planting trees such as cherry blossoms and plum trees in the surrounding hills.

Roughly 50 plum trees are still being planted each year through a volunteer program led by local residents. That means 500 new trees are being added every decade.
 
The once sparsely vegetated site has vigorously regenerated, and the area in and around the site has become a famous spot for enjoying the plum blossoms that bloom in the spring.