Located on a wooded ridge in Niigata’s Matsudai district, this former mountaintop stronghold once served as a defensive post during Japan’s Sengoku era. Today, it has been transformed into a contemporary art installation as part of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field’s outdoor Field Museum, where rural landscapes and historical buildings are reimagined as sites for modern expression.

The structure now houses a dual installation featuring works by artists Esther Stocker and Tsuyoshi Ozawa. On the first floor, Austrian artist Esther Stocker presents a black-and-white immersive space that uses geometric patterns to disrupt and redefine the viewer’s perception of traditional architecture. Her work explores visual ambiguity and spatial distortion, drawing attention to the architecture’s form through abstraction and repetition.

Ascending to the second and third floors, visitors encounter Perspectives of Longing [憧れの眺望] by Tsuyoshi Ozawa. This multi-layered installation draws from letters written by Japanese soldiers during World War II, especially those who looked out over distant landscapes while longing for home. The Golden Tearoom on the second floor evokes both luxury and fragility with its gold-leaf interior, offering a contemplative reinterpretation of the [chashitsu] tea room. The top floor opens up to panoramic windows, where natural light and shifting shadows interact with the space, inviting quiet reflection on memory and place.

Ozawa’s work transforms the building into a vessel of collective longing, contrasting deeply with Stocker’s visual disorientation below. The transition from stark geometric tension to emotional and historical depth creates a layered experience that unfolds floor by floor.

Accessing the site requires a 15-minute uphill hike along a forested trail, surrounded by terraced fields and rural scenery. This walk becomes part of the journey, echoing the structure’s historical role as a remote lookout and now as an artistic pilgrimage.

Photography is welcome throughout the space. For the best light and atmosphere, visit in the early morning or late afternoon, when the sun’s angle enhances the installation’s interaction with shadow and landscape.