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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFrom Dao to D\u014d\u201d begins with a tea room, its arched doorway lowered according to Japanese tradition to encourage visitors to leave their ego outside the door, enter the space, and focus on the ceremony.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hold a tea ceremony each Saturday, and there is total quiet in this space,\u201d said Meller-Yamaguchi, gesturing to the museum\u2019s small lobby. \u201cThere are hundreds of people, and there is complete silence. It\u2019s an experience that people seem to need, after all the rockets and sirens and fears. That\u2019s the idea of this exhibit, to offer some calm, that we\u2019re okay for now, we don\u2019t know what will be tomorrow, but for today we\u2019re okay.\u201d<\/p>\n \t During the rest of the week, a video takes visitors through the steps of a tea ceremony, alongside a vitrine of tea utensils and ceramic tea bowls from the museum\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n Meller-Yamaguchi noted that green matcha tea is drunk at a tea ceremony, for its ability to simultaneously calm and energize, which is why it was used by Japanese military Shoguns before battle.<\/p>\n (For those looking for a more personal experience, the excellent Talek Tikotin cafe upstairs serves a particularly frothy matcha latte.)<\/p>\n \t The rest of the exhibit encourages visitors to consider Japanese art that allows deeper meditation and focus, with a close look at calligraphy, including works and scrolls by traditional calligraphy artists alongside works by contemporary Japanese artist Tomoko Kawao, whose body postures become part of her calligraphy in her oversized, 10-meter (32-foot) works that utilize performance art, dance, and a brush.<\/p>\n Meller-Yamaguchi also examines martial arts, choosing three disciplines, Kyudo, Aikido and Iaido, with a focus on those that emphasize the individual, rather than victory or competition, such as judo and karate.<\/p>\n Visitors who step outside to the courtyard can look at a work by Nobuya Yamaguchi, \u201cWalking Between the Drops,\u201d a circle of gleaming water drops made of forged stainless steel, evoking an infinite circle without beginning or end.<\/p>\n \t A powerful portion of the exhibit is the site-specific installation, \u201cKudo,\u201d or \u201cThe Way of the Void\u201d by artist Onishi Yasuaki, who hung hundreds of strips of white paper in loops and tangles from the ceiling of one of the museum\u2019s galleries.<\/p>\n Yasuaki forces visitors to walk a winding path between the strips of paper, some of which are held down by ancient basalt rocks, creating a quiet, contemplative space.<\/p>\n That concept of a path with steps leading the way continues into the contemporary art gallery, where a mix of Israeli and Japanese artists\u2019 works, including several by Alex Kremer, Elica Masuya, Avi Eisenstein and Maya Cohen Levy, utilize calligraphy, oils, photographs and video.<\/p>\n \t The featured Japanese artists were happy to participate, said Meller-Yamaguchi, unlike other artists from European and American countries who have joined an ongoing cultural boycott against Israel since the bloody October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion sparked the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s less political there,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not involved in it because there aren\u2019t a lot of Muslims in Japan, not like Europe and the US. No one refused.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art is open Tuesday through Sunday, while the Wilfrid Israel Museum of Asian Art operates Monday through Saturday. The public can buy a combined admission ticket for both exhibitions for NIS 55 ($18), which can be used for four months, during which the two exhibitions are displayed simultaneously.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tCalligraphy works by Japanese artist Tomoko Kawao in Tikotin Museum\u2019s \u2018From Dao to D\u014d \u2013 Spirit of the Way\u2019 through May 31, 2026 (Jeni Katzner)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-17-at-9.10.28\u202fPM-e1771355637830-640x400.png\")
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\n\t\tA matcha latte at Talek Tikotin cafe in Haifa\u2019s Tikotin Museum (Courtesy)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\u05e0\u05d5\u05d1\u05d5\u05d9\u05d4-\u05d9\u05de\u05d2\u05d5\u05e6\u05d9-\u05dc\u05dc\u05db\u05ea-\u05d1\u05d9\u05df-\u05d4\u05d8\u05d9\u05e4\u05d5\u05ea-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tNobuya Yamaguchi, \u2018Walking Between the Drops,\u2019 at the Tikotin Museum\u2019s \u2018From Dao to D\u014d \u2013 Spirit of the Way\u2019 through May 31, 2026 (Jeni Katzner)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Onishi-Yasuaki-the-way-of-void-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tOnishi Yasuaki\u2019s \u2018The Way of Void\u2019 at Tikotin Museum\u2019s \u2018From Dao to D\u014d \u2013 Spirit of the Way\u2019 through May 31, 2026 (Jeni Katzner)<\/p>\n
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