✕According to Japanese mythology, Awaji Island in the Seto Inland Sea is the origin of Japan, the first part of the archipelago created by the gods Izanagi and Izanami. Sited between water and mountains at the northeast corner of the island, The Pasona Natureverse Retreat is its third project on Awaji designed by Shigeru Ban Architects, the namesake firm of 2014 Pritzker Prize laureate Shigeru Ban. The first was Haru San San, in 2021, a restaurant that serves local cuisine in what appears to be a traditional farmhouse with a huge thatched roof supported by an array of Ban’s signature paper tubes. This was followed by Zen Wellness Seinei, a minimalist yoga and meditation center cantilevered over a spectacular forested valley. The lobby is reached via a monumental exterior stair sheltered by a glazed timber-framed canopy set on a grove of columns made of European red pine.