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Site of Reversible Destiny Yoro

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

Researched and written by Hinato

Arakawa ShusakuMadeline Ginsland artYoroexperimental architecture

Illustration of Site of Reversible Destiny Yoro, Gifu — Illustration — not a photograph

Site of Reversible Destiny Yoro rewards patience — the view most people describe isn't the one you get by rushing.

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.

Before you go

Access hours

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

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

Entry fee

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

Best time to visit

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

Time to allow

90 minutes – 2 hours

Making the trip

Getting there in detail

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.

What to bring

**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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