Playing with Art | Enjoying Buddhist Statues from an Artistic Perspective! Visiting the Hanzomon Museum with Web Writer Lab Members

Masahiro Nakamura presides over the writer community 'Web Writer Lab'.

It is a community of 1,500 people, and the appeal lies in being able to participate in events such as networking gatherings in addition to lectures.

Furthermore, in the Lab, members can also organize events independently.

I have been involved in running the 'Lab Art Club' since January 2025, and I visit art museums with members once every 2 to 3 months!

The originator of the 'Lab Art Club' is a connector of people, O2 (Yuko Tomita).

As a community event manager, she has worked on numerous projects to encourage interaction.

The 'Lab Art Club' began when O2 shared her thoughts with me.

I deeply empathized with O2's words and decided to take on the challenge of running the event.

After that, illustrator Kotomi Takagi joined us, and we are currently running it as a team of three!

Now, for the third 'Lab Art Club' held in June 2025, we visited the Hanzomon Museum.

It is a place where Buddhist art cultural properties are open to the public, making it easy to visit.

On the day, including the management members, as many as 19 people participated!

In this article, I will deliver a report on the event, including the interactions with the members!

Experiencing Buddhist Art at the 'Hanzomon Museum'

The Hanzomon Museum is a facility that exhibits cultural properties owned by Shinnyo-en.

Various Buddhist statues and paintings are on display, including the Important Cultural Property 'Seated Dainichi Nyorai' and Gandhara Buddhist reliefs.

By the way, until I was in junior high school, I thought that 'Buddhist statues were things found in temples'.

Therefore, I remember being very surprised when I heard that 'they are also exhibited in art museums and museums'.

It was my mother who first introduced me to Buddhist statue exhibitions.

My mother loves Buddhist statues and invited me to go see an exhibition together.

I encountered Buddhist statues at an art museum for the first time, and after learning about the dedication of the busshi (sculptors who specialize in creating Buddhist statues) and the historical background, I became completely hooked on that world.

There was a time when I was so absorbed in it that I would compile reports on what I had researched.

Although I had been away from Buddhist statues for a while after starting my career, it is amazing how once you engage with them again, the knowledge from back then comes rushing back.

In the "Lab Art Club," we create and provide a document summarizing key points for appreciation and I was able to put what I studied as a student to good use.

Participants who were "seeing Buddhist statues at an art museum for the first time" also gave me the happy feedback that "I'm looking forward to seeing them in person!"

And for the course touring the Hanzomon Museum,

was the structure I proposed.

The Hanzomon Museum theater screens a movie that explains the life of the Buddha and the works in an easy-to-understand way.

First, I thought of a flow where we engage deeply with Buddhist art, and then deepen our learning afterwards.

It was well-received by the members, and I think I was able to provide a time for them to sharpen their sensibilities.

Some people were observing the Buddhist statues and mandalas so carefully one by one that they said, "There's not enough time...!"

Deepening impressions at the "Lunch Networking Event"

Another highlight of the "Lab Art Club" is the lunch networking event.

By not just ending with the viewing, but sharing our impressions with everyone, we create time to gain new perspectives.

Going to an art museum alone is fun, but

Do you ever feel anxious about things like that?

In the "Lab Art Club," we value our honest feelings of "how did I feel about this?" more than trying to understand the artwork.

To the participants, I say:

is what I tell them!

As we chatted in a relaxed atmosphere, topics like these came up:

We let our imaginations run wild, thinking about the people involved in their creation.

Also, relating things to their own interests, we heard comments like:

and more!

Connecting your favorite genres with art really deepens your interest, doesn't it?

And behind this lively interaction, there was careful preparation by the management members!

Believe it or not, Kotomi-san prepared place cards for everyone individually!

Furthermore, Ootsu-san and Kotomi-san came up with ideas like:

and other ideas for fun communication. they thought of.

Many people found the social gathering memorable, and some members even wrote about it on their notes!

🔽Miwa Kanazawa
Kanazawa-san has participated since the first event and always enjoys it to the fullest! She wrote about her highly original perspective on note ☺️

🔽Aoi Shimano
Aoi-san has been interested in the "Lab Art Club" for a long time! We were finally able to meet in person 💕 I'm so glad it was a healing time!

🔽Mariko (Mako) Shimoda
Mako-san has continued to participate since the second event! I am very happy that she mentioned the "Lab Art Club" in her note summarizing our activities 😍

And, our management members also wrote notes! 🎉

🔽Otsu-san
They reported on how the management team prepared for the event 🥹

🔽Kotomi Takagi
She carefully wrote down her thoughts on holding an event with a large group of people 🙏

The "Lab Art Club" will continue its activities!

If that sounds like you, why not join us to visit an exhibition?

The next event is scheduled for September 2025.

We will announce it on the Web Writer Lab Discord, so we hope you look forward to it with excitement!

You can see what our past events were like here 👇

🎨1st Event: Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum

🎨2nd Event: The National Art Center, Tokyo

🎨I post about art, writing work, parenting, and more🎨
I also post reports on visiting exhibitions and information about my original content, "Custom-Made Art Museum Tours"!
I would be happy if you followed me 🙌

🎨"Custom-Made Art Museum Tours" is currently in preparation for release🎨

Thank you for reading until the end!