The Matsudai NOHBUTAI is a base facility designed by Dutch architect group MVRDV. Approximately 40 works of art are scattered in a 2-km area of satoyama from Matsudai NOHBUTAI to Matsudai Castle at the top of the mountain, and the entire area is called the “Matsudai NOHBUTAI Field Museum.

Visitors can encounter the natural environment of the many terraced rice paddies (rice paddies made of sloping land between mountains) and rice fields created by changing the flow of the river, as well as the satoyama, and come into contact with over 1,000 years of snow-country farming culture. In addition to viewing the works of world-class artists, visitors can catch a glimpse of local people living and working in the rice paddies, and many programs are held to allow visitors to experience local natural culture, such as rice planting in the spring, rice harvesting in the fall, and playing in the snow in the winter. The dining hall attached to the museum offers a variety of programs for visitors to experience the natural culture of the region, such as rice planting in the spring, rice harvesting in the fall, and playing in the snow in the winter.

Experiencing the satoyama region through art

The area is dotted with works by world-class artists such as Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s “Terraced Paddy Fields” and Kusama Yayoi’s “Hanasakakeru Tsumari”. You can walk around the area in 1 to 2 hours. You can also visit by car.

Space itself as art

Eight of the nine works by world-renowned artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, which are rarely seen in Japan, will be on view (one is permanently installed at the Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET). The exhibition includes “The Rice Fields” (2000), which became a representative work of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, “Arch of Life” (2015) and “The Monument of Tolerance” (2021) outside the museum, and “10 Albums Labyrinth” (2021) and 4 other works inside the museum.