I found a brochure for the museum when I visited a sake brewery on my trip to Hida-Takayama in the spring of 2001. It was the Hikaru Memorial Hall, which was the former name of the museum, and the pamphlet showed me that they exhibited their research results of Geology and Archeology in the hall. I was so interested in this place and went to the museum soon after. The museum gate was glorious and the building was huge and spectacular; It felt somehow different from public museums. I paid 900 yen for the entrance fee, and started my exploration from the third basement floor. Unfortunately, taking photos was prohibited in the museum. The third floor had only a museum shop and information center, then I went up to the second basement floor. There was a spacious center floor with two small exhibition rooms on both sides of the floor. A Noh stage sat in the center and oriental calligraphy, decorative folding screens, and Japanese paintings were displayed in the rooms.
The upper floor was the religious place where the founder of this museum, Mr. Kohtama Okada, placed his golden bust. When I visited there, there was a small golden room which introduced Mr. Okada’s achievement to us. However, I couldn’t find the information about this room on the Internet, and I guess that the religious exhibition room was removed or is closed now. Next time I visit there, I’ll check for the existence of the room. Anyway, the Sukyo-Mahikari organization doesn’t want to strongly promote their religious beliefs in this place, so you can enjoy all exhibitions and the buildings at ease.
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