Ahead of the “Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2024” (2024/7/13-11/10) to be held from next summer, Tanaka Min will hold a snow performance “Ryōkan in the Snow” this winter.

Winter is the main season for Echigo-Tsumari. The spirit of Echigo-Tsumari is expressed precisely in the life in the snow that covers everything for six months. In this all-white world, Ryōkan, who plays with children and waits for spring, is a religious figure who embodies the Echigo-Tsumari winter. Tanaka Min will dance Ryōkan in the overwhelming snow ahead of Triennale 2024.

【Date & Time】 2024/2/2/23 (Fri) ,  Starts at 14:30
【Venue】Nakago Green Park (2930-3, Ueno Kou, Tokamachi-city, Niigata Prefecture 948-0122)
【Ticket/Purchase】The “ETAT 2024 Passport with Tanaka Min “Ryōkan in the Snow” (voucher) is required to view the performance.

Photo Nakamura Osamu

The title “Reverse String” is derived from an essay by  Nihiwaki Junzaburo, a poet from Niigata Prefecture, who described buckwheat noodles as “roughly shaped strings”. When paint is applied to form a shape and become a painting, it is the sparkle of the particles that attracts attention in reverse. This exhibition is set in Tokamachi in the middle of winter, when the snow is falling heavily, sometimes in torrents, and is composed of new works by artists who attempt to create a world that can be recomposed in a circle by painting from line to circle all at once. (Photo: Adachi Ryo)
【Guest curator】 hiyama Mayu (Curator, Recruit Art Center)

Dates: 1/13 – 3/10, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Hours: 10:00 – 17:00 (last admission 16:30)
Fee: Common winter ticket or individual tickets (¥1,200 for adults, ¥600 for elementary and junior high school students)
*Fees include admission to the Museum on Echigo-Tsumari (MonET) permanent exhibition and special exhibitions.

Related event /  “Let’s make snow paintings with your body”
Date：2/24    13:00-
Venue: Outside MonET
Fee: Included in the museum admission fee

Under the concept of “waiting” (embracing) the snow, a giant person will appear on MonET’s pond. Please enjoy the experience of looking up at the naturally falling snow, facing the snow, and feeling the gift from nature with your whole body.

Dates: Saturday, Sunday, and holidays from 1/20  to 3/10.
Hours: 10:00 – 17:00 (last admission at 16:30)
Fee: Common winter ticket or individual tickets (¥1,200 for adults, ¥600 for elementary and junior high school students)

*Fees include admission to the Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art MonET permanent exhibition and special exhibitions.
*Some works may be closed due to weather conditions.
*Artwork on the pond  will be on view from 1/27 (Sat.)

Let’s experience an old game handed down in the village. “Hanekkeshi” is Shinzui village is that people play shuttlecock with “kosuki,” an old snow removal tool.

[Date & Time] Saturdays and Sundays during the exhibition period (10:00~15 :00)
※Due to the weather, the event has been canceled on 1/13,14,20,21
[Fee] One entry with a common winter ticket or individual viewing tickets.

Related Event;  “Village Hospitality”
[Date] 2/3, 17, 24, 3/2

Shikata Kenichi “Growing in the ground”
As if growing out of the earth, the mirrored plate work torn into two halves reflects the snow and sky, swaying in the wind and creating a landscape.

Dot Architects “Furniture for Field Museum “SLEDDING BENCH””.

Snow Activities/Mini-events
Various snow activities and mini-events will be held on a weekly basis, including banana boating, snow tubing, wood-chopping, a snow soccer tournament with FC Echigo-Tsumari, and kanjiki (snowshoes) experience. (photo Nakamura Osamu)

[Snow Activities]
・Snow tubing
・Hand-pushed sled
・Snowboarding
・Snowboarding, Snow tubing, Hand-pushed sledding, Snow board, Bonfire
・Rice cakes and marshmallows roasting (extra charge)
・Bonfire coffee (extra charge)

[Mini-events] (dates and details are being prepared on the details page)
・Mochitsuki (rice cake pounding) contest
・Harvest Festival in the snow
・Wood-chopping experience
・Banana Boat
・Snowboarding class
・Snow soccer
・Snow maze making (snow shoes experience)
・Snow maze
・Kanjiki tour to the “The Monument of Tolerance” in the snow
*Banana boat and snow maze making are for elementary school students and older.

FC Echigo-Tsumari, a women’s agricultural soccer team, will perform stretches that lead to the regeneration of the body’s natural motor functions. Let’s enjoy moving your body with the players of FC Echigo-Tsumari who have learned the methods of “R-body project Inc.”

Date: (being prepared)
Venue: (being prepared)
Fee (tax included): ¥500 per time

Christian Boltanski + Jean Kalman, “The Last Class” (photo  T.Kuratani)

Open: Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays only
Hours: 10:00-16:00
Fee: Winter common ticket / Individual ticket (Adult ¥800, Children under 15 age ¥400)

Sekine Tetsuo, “Boys with Red Loincloth Returned” (photo Nakamura Osamu)

You can view multiple outdoor artworks even in the snow. You can also search for artworks that are open to the public according to the date of your visit.

*The “open”, “closed”, and “open” status displayed in the upper left corner of each work’s image indicates the status of the work on the date of the search operation.
*Open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but outdoor works that can be viewed in winter are not enclosed or removed.

Two special exhibitions are being held until March 10. In addition, a popular winter-only experience, “Snowshoeing,” is also available.

[Special exhibitions]
1) “Snow Rich* Tokamachi, which curators and researchers can’t help but want to introduce”
2) “The Story of Bijinrin Monogatari”

Open: All year round (permanent exhibition + special exhibitions)
Closed: Tuesdays and Wednesdays (or the following weekday if the day falls on a national holiday) *Closed on Tuesdays until December
Hours: 9:00-16:00 (last admission 15:30)
Fee ： Winter common ticket or individual tickets (¥500 for adults, free for junior high school students and younger)

James Turrell, “House of Light”, photo Nakamura Osamu

Closed: Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Wednesdays only in March *Special closing days
Hours ： 11:30-15:00 (last admission at 14:30)
Fee ：Common winter ticket or individual tickets (¥600 for junior high school students and older, ¥300 for elementary school students)

Ma Yansong / MAD Architects, “Tunnel of Light”, Photo Nakamura Osamu

Closed: Open daily (temporary closure depending on snowfall/entrance facilities are closed during winter)
Hours: 9:00-16:00 (last mine entry at 15:30) until 2/28, 8:30-17:00 (last mine entry at 16:30) from 3/1
Fee ：¥1,000 for Adults,  ¥400 for elementary and junior high school students (not valid for admission with the winter common ticket. Discounts are available.)
Privilege: ¥500 discount for general admission and ¥50 discount for elementary and junior high school students upon presentation of the winter common ticket.

【Fee】General admission ¥2,000, elementary and junior high school students ¥800
【Valid period】2024/1/13 – 3/10  *Sale period is the same
【Sales locations】MonET, Matsudai “NOHBUTAI”, Matsudai History Museum, Last Class Sansho House, Kyororo, House of Light, Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel, Tokamachi City General Tourist Information Center, Matsudai/Matsunoyama Onsen Tourist Information Center, Tsunan Town Tourist Association.

＜Facilities open to the public＞
・Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET
・Matsudai ”NOHBUTAI” Field Museum
・The Last Class
・Echigo-Matsunoyama “Forest School” Kyororo:
・House of Light

＜Facilities with discount privileges＞ *The common winter ticket is not valid for admission.
・Tunnel of Light: ¥500 discount for adults, ¥50 discount for elementary and junior high school students.

A one-day tour to Echigo-Tsumari with snowy scenery and art, starting and ending at Echigo-Yuzawa Station. Lunch will be a Satoyama buffet featuring winter ingredients. (Photo Yanagi Ayumi)

Dates: Every Saturday and Sunday from 1/20 to 2/25
Infants (3-5 years old): ¥3,000, children under 3 years old, Free (infant fee if meals and bus seat are required)
Stopover works: Tunnel of light (Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel), The Last Class, NOHBUTAI, MonET
*If Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel is closed due to heavy snowfall, the tour will be changed to another work.

The “Yukimi-gozen” is a special program to enjoy winter dishes, which are served in lacquerware once used for weddings and funerals in the village, and are filled with local wisdom and culture, together with the hospitality of the village. Enjoy this year’s SNOWART and the pure white satoyama scenery as you sway slowly on the bus. (Photo Nakamura Osamu)

Dates: Every Saturdays and Sundays from 3/2 to 3/10
Trip fee (tax included): Adult ¥ 15,500, 6-15 year old ¥12,000, Toddler (3-5 years old) ¥3,000 , Free for children under 3 years old
*In case a meal or a seat on the bus is required, the infant fee will be charged.
(Including bus fare, artwork viewing fee, lunch, guide fee, and tax)

Echigo Matsudai Satoyama Shokudo
The annual cheese fondue is now on the Satoyama Buffet menu!　Enjoy the rich cheese sauce mixed with winter vegetables. In addition, there is a full lineup of seasonal sweets. After lunch, please enjoy it with a cup of hot coffee or tea.

Open: 10:00 – 17:00 (Lunch 11:00 – 14:00L.O.) ,Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Fee:
[Weekdays] Satoyama Gohan (rice) ¥1,500 / Satoyama Curry ¥1,500
[Weekends & Holidays] Satoyama Buffet ¥2,000 for adults, ¥1,000 for elementary school students, ¥500 for infants.

Katakuri House, Akiyamago, an unexplored region with heavy snowfall, open only in midwinter

Akiyamago is an unexplored region with such heavy snowfall that it was once exempted from compulsory education by the national government. We have prepared a three-weekend-only lodging plan to experience the winter in Akiyamago. On the following day, a local guide will take you to Mikurabashi Bridge, which is also known as the setting of the movie “Yureru”. Please enjoy a special time to experience this unexplored region of heavy snowfall.

Dates:2/22, 23, 24, 3/1, 2, 8, 9