Site of Reversible Destiny Yoro

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Investigado y escrito por Hinato

Arakawa ShusakuMadeline Ginsland artYoroexperimental architecture

Illustration of Site of Reversible Destiny Yoro, Prefectura de Gifu — Ilustración: no es una fotografía

Arakawa Shusaku and Madeline Gins spent their careers arguing that architecture had made human beings too comfortable and, in doing so, was killing them.

It is disorienting in a way that photographs cannot convey, and the park lends helmets and shoes free of charge, which tells you what to expect. People fall over. That is not a design failure but the stated intention — the pair believed that being made to think about balance was, literally, life-extending. It costs ¥850, closes on Tuesdays, and is the strangest place in Gifu by a wide margin.

Información esencial

Horario

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Last entry 4:30 PM

Cerrado: Closed Tuesdays, or the following day when the Tuesday is a public holiday | Closed 29 December – 3 January

Entrada

¥850 adults | ¥550 high school students | ¥350 elementary and junior high school students | Free under school age

Mejor temporada

Year-round | Avoid wet days — the surfaces are slippery

Duración de la visita

90 minutes – 2 hours

Cómo llegar

Información de acceso

Takabayashi 1298-2, Yoro, Yoro District, inside Yoro Park. About a short walk from Yoro Station on the Yoro Railway, or by car with parking in the park. Closed Tuesdays, or the following day when the Tuesday is a public holiday, and 29 December – 3 January. Admission ¥850 for adults, ¥550 for high school students and ¥350 for elementary and junior high school students; free under school age. Helmets and shoes are lent free of charge.

Guía privilegiada

**Borrow the helmet and the shoes.** Both are free and both are there because people fall. Refusing them is not a display of confidence, it is a bad idea on uneven concrete. **Wear something you can move in.** Steep slopes, tilted floors and low openings. Skirts and stiff-soled shoes make the whole site unusable. **Falling is the point.** Arakawa and Gins argued that architecture which removes all effort shortens life. Being forced to concentrate on balance is the intended experience, not a hazard they failed to design out. **Closed Tuesdays.** With a public holiday shift. Yoro Park around it, including the waterfall, is open regardless and is free. **Combine with Yoro Falls.** The 32 m waterfall in the same park has its own legend and is a fifteen-minute walk up, which makes the trip a half day.

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