OKAERI / TADAIMA (Welcome Home / We are back!)
Two ‘Blue Nio’ were presented to the world at Osaka Expo on October 1st. 2025. It was a festive moment in the Nio Project that was started by Dutch artist Jikke van Loon after meeting two Japanese temple guardians at the National Gallery (Rijksmuseum) in Amsterdam. This moment had exploded into an artist-in-residence program, high school exchange, regional revitalization and exchange of hearts between people across the globe.
Meeting the temple guardians in 2015 Jikke got intrigued by the statues and upon visiting their former home deep in the mountains of Shimane, she felt determined to reconnect the spirit of the guardians (Nio) to the town of Okuizumo Yokota and its people.
On October 13th the Blue Nio were finally installed on the Iwayaji mountain (where Nio have stood for 700 years) and in a live stream in time and space (JIKU) connected to the Nio in the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam.
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Nio Festival 2025
Nio Festival 2025
Getting the BLUE NIO ready for World Stage OSAKA EXPO
OJIZOSAN HUNT SUCCESSFUL
Okuizumo Yokota 24 Nov. 2024 We have set a record in finding lost Ojizosan. We were able to dig up more than 7 precious ojizosan statues this year. Looking forward to next year and continue our search.
Iwayaji temple opening
Okuizumo, Yokota, Shimane-ken, Japan 23 Nov. 2023
For the first time in many many many years the Iwaya-ji temple opened its doors to welcome everyone inside! What a joy and special moment it was to hear the sound of the temple after opening its doors. A flood of dragon heads looked down on us in curiosity. And we were in aw!
Issho-ni/ Tomo-ni
Amsterdam-Yokota 23 Nov 2029. Hundreds of participants in both the Netherlands joint hands and contributed to the return of the Nio to their home town: Yokota, Okuizumo, Japan. They did it ‘Issho-ni/ Tomo-ni’, (re-creating Pure Wisdom, together!)
