Grand Opening of Rui Architects' New Facility "Uda Innovation Center VUTAI" in Uda City, Nara on Saturday, April 11 - Commemorative Ceremony with Noh Performance "Okina" and Dialogue with Notable Figures to be Held on the Same Day

The new facility of Rui Architects Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Yodogawa-ku, Osaka; President: Hiroshi Abe), the "Uda Innovation Center VUTAI" in Uda City, Nara Prefecture, will have its grand opening on Saturday, April 11th. The Uda Innovation Center VUTAI, a residential co-creation hub for agriculture and learning, was announced in April 2023, completed, and pre-opened in November 2025. To celebrate the grand opening, a commemorative ceremony will be held at VUTAI on the 11th.

The first part of the ceremony will feature a performance of song and dance from the celebratory Noh play "Okina" by a Noh actor from the Kyoto Kanze school. The second part will be a special dialogue. The speakers will be Mr. Yasuhisa Nishijima, the master carpenter of the Daito-ryu school, renowned for the restoration of the national treasure Himeji Castle and who worked on the main hall of VUTAI, and Mr. Seijun Nishihata, known as a globe-trotting plant hunter who has produced numerous landscapes and who handled the planting plan for VUTAI.

With this grand opening, we will create a place for co-creation to forge a vibrant society with everyone, starting from Uda, said to be the "land of beginnings" in Japan.

Date and Time: Saturday, April 11th, doors open at 13:00 Location: "Uda Innovation Center VUTAI" (79-1 Haibara Shimoitari, Uda City, Nara Prefecture)

Ceremony Overview

Part 1: Noh Performance "Okina"

The land of Uda has a deep-rooted history and culture of the sublime beauty of the Kanze school of Noh, including the "Hotaru Noh" performed at Aki Shrine. Therefore, to inaugurate the Uda Innovation Center VUTAI, we have invited a Noh actor from the Kyoto Kanze school to perform the ceremonial and celebratory play "Okina." "Okina" is a prayer for a bountiful harvest that invigorates life. The act of stamping on the earth and the dance in the "Suzu no dan" section, reminiscent of sowing seeds, are overlaid with a prayer for new innovations to sprout from Uda. It is a solemn dedication to celebrate the dawn of a new era in this historic land of Uda.

Part 2: Special Dialogue between Mr. Yasuhisa Nishijima and Mr. Seijun Nishihata

A special dialogue will be held between Mr. Yasuhisa Nishijima, the 32nd-generation head of the Daito-ryu school of temple carpentry who worked on the main hall of VUTAI, and Mr. Seijun Nishihata, representative of Sora Botanical Garden, who handled the planting plan. They will discuss VUTAI, a unique space that fuses architecture and planting...