Adachi Garden and Museum, Furukawacho, Yasugi, Shimane, Japan

The Adachi Museum of Art opened in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, Japan in 1970. It houses a collection of modern Japanese art, including paintings by Taikan Yokoyama, and has a celebrated garden.

Its 6 gardens and around 1,500 exhibits of Japanese paintings, pottery, and other works of art occupy the 165,000 square-meter area. Adachi Museum of Art earned the top rating of three stars in Michelin Green Guide Japan because of its elegance.

The Adachi Museum of Art was founded by Adachi Zenko in 1970 as a way of combining his passions for Japanese art and garden design. He hoped that viewing the gardens and artwork together would expand peoples' appreciation and interest in Japanese art.

The Adachi Museum of Art is best known for its award winning garden. It has been named the best garden in Japan annually since 2003 by the "Journal of Japanese Gardening". The garden can be enjoyed at anytime of the year and shows a different character depending on the season. It can only be viewed from the museum building.

In addition to the gardens, the Adachi Museum of Art also houses a collection of nearly 1300 twentieth century paintings and artworks which are rotated seasonally. There is also a permanent exhibit of paintings by Yokoyama Taikan, as well as a ceramics exhibit.

The Adachi Museum of Art is located one hour outside of Matsue: Take a train from Matsue Station to Yasugi Station (20 minutes, 420 yen by local or rapid train, covered by the Japan Pail Pass), from where there are two free shuttle buses per hour to the museum (20 minutes). Limited express trains from Okayama also stop at Yasugi Station before continuing to Matsue.

As well as the great collection of Japanese art works, the museum is also widely known for its Japanese garden. The 16.5 ha picturesque garden was created by the founder Zenko Adachi himself with the belief of “the garden is also a picture”and he has devoted his late life to gardening until his death at 91 years-old. His garden is often described as “living Japanese painting” and past over 10 years, it was chosen as “the most beautiful Japanese garden” by Journal of Japanese Gardening, also listed as a three-stars site on Michelin green guide Japan. The garden has 6 different sections showing different feature on each season and can be only seen from the museum building.

Adachi Museum of Art is definitely one of the best must-sees in Shimane, or even in Japan. Its splendid Japanese gardens were chosen as the No.1 Japanese Garden for thirteen straight years. The museum is blessed with beautiful nature, visitors can observe the combination of the garden and the surrounding mountains changing its faces by seasons. In addition, the Michelin Green Guide and the Guide Blue Japon praise the garden with three stars, the garden gains more and more attentions from overseas.

Outline of Adachi Museum of Art Adachi Museum of Art was established in in 1970 by a local businessman, Zenko Adachi. The museum houses Japanese paintings including masterpieces of Yokoyam Taikan , who has built the modern Japanese art, Sakakibara Shiho, and ceramic artworks by Kitaoji Rosanjin, and a local artist Kawai Kanjiro . Exhibited items change every seasons, for times a year.

For more information  - Adachi Garden and Museum