The Nakaya Ukichiro Snow and Ice Museum 中谷宇吉郎雪の科学館
“Snow is a letter sent from heaven”
In Ishikawa Prefecture, Kaga City is home to the quirky and captivating Nakaya Ukichiro Snow and Ice Museum. A native of Kaga, this physicist specializing in glaciology was the first man in the world to have created artificial snow in 1936. Discover the secrets of snow and ice!
The snow falls
A young graduate of the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1925, Ukichiro Nakaya (1900-1962) initially studied electrostatic discharges and X-rays; work that led him to King's College London between 1928 and 1929. It was not until 1930 when he took up his post as a professor at the University of Hokkaido that he began his research on the snow and ice . The scientist is in awe of the beauty of the snowflakes that fall daily in winter and which he contemplates at will. It must be admitted that the region does not lack raw materials!
Ukichiro Nakaya at work in his laboratory
https://kagakuukan.org
In 1932, he moved to an isolated cabin on Mount Tokachi with his research group to unlock the secrets of snow and ice . From this expedition, he brought back 3,000 annotated photographs of snow crystals; fine observations that allow him to establish a classification of flakes making a relationship between the shape of the crystals and the meteorological conditions. In 1935, he opened a laboratory kept at low temperature (down to -50°C) to deepen his work and try to imitate nature. His hard work is rewarded the following year when he manages to artificially create snow.
To read: Top snow festivals in Japan
A gift from heaven
The diagram that he creates from the result of his work, called the "Nakaya diagram", makes it possible to "read" the meteorological information "inscribed" on a crystal of snow. Nakaya indeed demonstrated that it is possible to infer weather conditions in the upper air by observing the morphology of snow crystals on the ground . This inspires the scientist with a very pretty formula “Snow is a letter sent from heaven” .
To discover: Kaga Arts Forest
Nakaya's diagram
http://kagashi-ss.co.jp/yuki-mus
This maxim, which has now become inseparable from the scientist, is displayed on a large kakemono at the entrance to the museum and conveys with accuracy and poetry his fascination for snow. In 1941, his work was awarded the Imperial Prize of the Academy of Japan . In the 1940s, for military purposes, he unsuccessfully sought a way to avoid atmospheric icing of aircraft . During the following decade, Nakaya studied the question of the formation of snow and ice in different regions of the world (Illinois, Greenland, Hawaii).
science for all
Well beyond his scientific work, which led him to observe snow crystals for hours through his microscope, Nakaya was guided by a deep desire to share his knowledge . A great popularizer of his work, he is the author of several books intended for the general public such as " Fuyu no hana " ("Winter Flower") and " Yuki " ("Snow") and then the producer of scientific films . It is in this sense that the Nakaya Ukichiro Snow and Ice Museum is designed. The museum opened in Kaga in 1994 to encourage young people to study science ; providing films, photographs and experimental devices for everyone. In the exhibition halls, a large part of the photographs, notes, machines and equipment from Nakaya's laboratory are presented. The great originality of leiux is based on the snow and ice laboratories which allow experiments to be carried out: fishing ice, making diamond dust, creating frozen stained glass windows, lenses and ice pendants... Impossible not to melt in front of these jewels that would make the Snow Queen green with envy!
Infinite Crystals
The museum is located in a beautiful natural setting ; bordering Lake Shibayama with Mount Haku as a backdrop. A setting that very well inspired the famous architect Arata Isozaki in his creation of three interconnected hexagonal towers. This particular shape is a reference to the hexagonal molecular structure of the snow crystal. This motif is reused for the hexagonal skylights at the top, which also echo the six faces of a snowflake. Outside is the Greenland Stone Garden .
The Greenland Stone Garden
http://tabimati.net
Hundreds of millions of small stones from the Thule region, Nakaya's last research site, artificially reproduce the fog of the glaciers of Greenland. Finally, note that since 2000, the year of the hundredth anniversary of Nakaya's birth, the museum has been organizing a design competition featuring snow and ice motifs regardless of the medium and materials used. Scheduled every two years, the next edition of the Snow Design Award will be held in 2019; this leaves you a little time to design your project!
See also: Onsen around Kanazawa
Address, timetable & access
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Address
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Phone
+81-761-75-3323 -
Timetable
10 minutes by bus from JR Kaga-onsen station -
Price
Adults: ¥500 (3€80) / People 75 and over: ¥250 / High school students and younger: free -
Access
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Wednesday -
Website
http://kagashi-ss.co.jp/yuki-mus/yuki_home/
