Biwako Nagahama Kannon House

As a new kind of museum, the Biwako Nagahama Kannon House in Tokyo, Japan, is dedicated to the Buddhist goddess Kannon. The distinctive wooden statues were delivered from Nagahama, a rural city 300 km from Tokyo. Basic-ally, the museum has only one Kannon. However, a new statue as a replacement is sent there from Nagahama every second month. Since the Kannon goddess plays a special role in the life of Japanese people, the small museum acts as a cultural bridge between the rural and the urban city, conveying both the lifestyle and the notion of prayers. The space is composed of local hinoki (Japanese cypress) wood and exudes a quiet, silent and serene atmosphere.