Kasama City, widely known as a city of Inari (the fox deity) and pottery, drew people's new attentions especially for its abundant natural environment.
Rich green and the seasonal changes of nature, special to the basin, catch and soothe the people's heart.
The Village of Art located on the verdurous hilly land spreading around the city.
The initial plan of the Village of Art took shape after the wish of artists as Kanemon ASAI and a novelist Taijiro TAMURA who visited Kasama in 1964, with Mr. Jin HASEGAWA, the first director of the Kasama Nichido Museum of Art.
In 1965, the traditional Japanese house with a thatched roof of around 300 square meters, a former residence of KITAOJI Rosanjin, relocated to the Village of Art, and it was named "Shunpuu Banri-sou," after the Rosanjin's favorite verses by Li Haku.
There are currently 40 ateliers of the artists, devoting themselves to the works of Western-style painting, Japanese-style painting, sculpture, pottery, dying and weaving textile.
The vast garden in front of the Shunpu Banri-sou has the various trees and plants, as cherry trees, apricot trees, azaleas, maple trees and Japanese irises. The flowers of different tastes bloom all through the year, and sooth the visitors' hearts so much.
Besides, there are some other features offering a break to the visitors after appreciation of art; such as the nagaya gate for samurai residence in the Edo period, the tea room "Mukyo-an" designed by KITAOJI Rosanjin himself, the garden with stones without water modeled on the dry landscape of a temple Ryoan-ji in Kyoto, and an arched bridge over the pond of water lilies.