Zenbo Seinei: Shigeru Ban’s Meditation Deck Above the Forest of Awaji

Zenbo Seinei is a retreat for meditation on Awaji Island, in the Seto Inland Sea. It was designed by Shigeru Ban, who won the Pritzker Prize in 2014, and was completed in 2022. It stands in wooded hills in the north of the island.

The building

The retreat is a single long bar of timber, 90 metres in length and only 7.2 metres wide, lifted above the forest. It rests on two columns of steel cased in wood. Between them the building spans as a Vierendeel truss, a frame of uprights without diagonals, so the sides stay open to the view.

The top level is a deck 100 metres long, without walls, protected by a roof and by glass screens that slide away. It is level with the treetops and looks out over the hills in every direction. This is where guests sit in meditation. Below it are a restaurant and a small number of rooms for those who stay the night. Under the building, on the ground, is a pool of water with rocks.

The programme

The retreat belongs to Pasona, a Japanese staffing group that moved much of its head office to Awaji in 2020 and has opened a number of restaurants, hotels and attractions there. A visit follows a set pattern. Guests are led through zazen, seated meditation, and through yoga on the deck. Other sessions include calligraphy, tea and incense. The meals are a contemporary version of temple cooking, made with vegetables from the island and without meat, sugar, oil or dairy.

Most visitors come for a day programme of a few hours. An overnight stay adds evening and dawn sessions. Pasona has said the project answers a growing wish, since the pandemic, to take stock of one’s life in natural surroundings.

For travellers

Awaji is joined to the mainland by the Akashi Kaikyo bridge. The retreat is about 40 minutes by road from Kobe and little more than an hour from Osaka, with express buses from both. It combines with the buildings by Tadao Ando on the island, such as the Water Temple and the Awaji Yumebutai gardens.

Those who want the monastic original can stay in a temple on Mount Koya, three hours away. Further west along the Inland Sea are Ban’s Simose Art Museum and the museums of Naoshima.