About

A Niōmon is a gate at the entrance to a Japanese temple area and traditionally houses two temple guardians (Nio) : the fierce looking Agyou and the unyielding UNgyou. Agyou has its mouth open and is shouting ‘AAaa!’ and UNgyou has its mouth firmly shut and is making the sound UN! These sounds are the first syllabes of the Siddham script and together they represent all sounds (beginning and end and everything in between) and therefor all knowlegde, wisdom and compassion. Anyone walking in between the temple guardains gains acces to this field of knowledge, wisdom and compassion.
The temple guardians in this project are from Okuizumo-Yokota and are currently residing in the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam.

In 2015 Dutch artist Jikke van Loon met with the two temple guardians in the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam. She was in aw with their fierce and energetic appearance and with the skill of the masters hand. But she was also disturbed and at unease: were the temple guardians able to fulfill their tasks, stuck flat to the wall?She went in search of the hometown of the temple guards and ended up in Okuizumo Yokota, Shimane, a remote area in Japan. She encountered the void that the removal of the statues had created and decided to ‘bring back’ the temple guards to their original place.

Issho-ni/ Tomo-ni, (re) creating Pure wisdom, Together! (2018/ 2019)

In 2018 and 2019, the two temple guards were re-created by hundreds of participants in the Netherlands and Japan. Each participant painted a Delft blue tile that together formed four true-size Delft blue tableaus. On 23 November 2019, these ‘Blue Nio’ were festively unveiled and welcomed by the community in Yokota. Trough guided tours, workshops, debates and presentations in both the Netherlands and Yokota ánd with the appearance of the Bee Nio the Japanese guardians rose again in the community of Yokota and at the same time recalibrated their existence within the community of the Netherlands.

Niomon, Building a portal a home (2021-2025)

Although the temple guardians had returned to their hometown in 2019 it was impossible at that time to place them back in their former house, the Niomon of Iwaya-ji temple, and formally take up their tasks. The gate was in terrible condition and needed repair/ rebuilding.
Foundations in both Japan and the Netherlands were established to further the creation of a gate, in both physical (a Home for the returned Blue Nio) and non physical way (a portal to ‘learning, wisdom and compassing’). Between 2021 and 2025 Artist-in Residencies, High school Exchanges, Collaborations with College of Japanese Architecture Japan were established. A recurring NIO Festival has been organized to celebrate the return of the Nio, create’ wisdom, compassion and learning’ in workshops, debates and gatherings. The owner of the gate (and temple complex) was found.After long deliberation it was decided to shift ownership to the Niomon Foundation to further the project and to open up the area to the public.This was the moment for a welcome back home and a reconnection with the mountain, the community, the guardians, history.

OKAERI / TADAIMA! (Welcome Home/ We are Back!) (2025)

Two ‘Blue Nio’ were presented to the world at Osaka Expo on Oct. 1st 2025 and ‘A Future with Blue Nio’ was presented by students from Yokota. and Kyoto and discussed in Talk Sessions with Shishido Shungo (GIAHS), Jikke van Loon (NIO Project) and Sano Haruhito (College of Japanese Architecture Kyoto). It was a festive moment in the Nio Project connection history, present and future.

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.