Adachi Museum of Art
Adachi Museum of Art 足立美術館
The Adachi Museum of Art is located 20 km east of Matsue in Shimane Prefecture and combines a collection of over 1,500 works by Japanese artists with a series of gardens covering 165,000 square meters. Founded by locally-born businessman, art collector and connoisseur of Japanese gardens, Adachi Zenko (1899-1990), this superb museum marries the best of art and garden design in a lovely whole, encapsulating Zenko's words: "A Japanese garden is also a living painting".
Adachi Museum of Art, Shimane - art at one with nature
Adachi Museum of Art Collections
Established in 1970, the Adachi Museum of Art has a collection of around 1,500 paintings with the nihonga works of Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958) forming the core.
Other painters on show include Hashimoto Kansetsu, Ito Shinsui, Yasuda Yukihiko, Kawai Gyokudo, Tomioka Tessai, Sakakibara Shiho (1887-1971), Takeuchi Seiho and Uemura Shoen (1875-1949).
There is also a number of "Pictures for Children" by such artists as Hayashi Yoshio and Takei Takeo on display in the Doh-ga Exhibition Room.
A garden at Adachi Museum of Art, Shimane - a picture in any weather
The Ceramics Hall features the arts and crafts of mingei artist Kawai Kanjiro (also from Yasugi in Shimane) and Kitaoji Rosanjin (1853-1959), who created beautiful ceramics to accompany food.
The two-story Adachi Museum of Art Annex opened in 2010 and houses around 150 works by promising Japanese painters, including winners of the annual Adachi Museum of Art Award. The building has an Art Theater for lectures and films on modern art.
Adachi Museum of Art, Shimane Prefecture
Adachi Museum of Art, Shimane Prefecture
Adachi Museum of Art Gardens
Designed by Kinsaku Nakane (1917-1995), who was also responsible for the exquisite garden at Taizo-in in Myoshinji Temple in Kyoto, the six-part gardens are viewed from the buildings of the museum. The different styles include the Dry Landscape Garden, The White Gravel & Pine Garden, the Moss Garden and the Pond Garden.
Within the gardens are two teahouses: the Juryu-an and the Juraku-an. The Juryu-an is a replica of the Shokin-tei in the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. In the Juraku-an, a pure gold kettle, is used to boil the water for the tea.
The gardens compliment the works of Yokoyama Taikan and are viewed from the large windows or from "Living Hanging Scrolls" cut into the museum's walls.
The Journal of Japanese Gardening in the US consistently rates the Adachi Museum of Art garden as the number one garden in Japan and the garden is also praised in the Michelin Green Guide and the Guide Bleu Japon.
Rounding out the museum are two museum shops, one in the main building and the other in the annex, and two, elegant coffee shops with views of the gardens.
Adachi Museum of Art, Shimane Prefecture
Access
Adachi Museum of Art (Japanese & English)
320 Furukawa-cho, Yasugi-shi, Shimane 692-0064
Tel: 0854 28 7111
Google map
Hours: April - September 9 am-5.30 pm; October - March 9 am-5 pm. Adults 2,300 yen with 50% reduction for foreigners.
There are free shuttle buses to and from the Adachi Museum of Art from JR Yasugi Station, JR Yonago Station, Takamatsukuri Spa, Kaike Spa and the ANA Hotel Yonago.
There are highway buses from Tokyo (10 hours, 45 minutes), Osaka (3 hours, 45 minutes), Kyoto (4 hours, 15 minutes), Hiroshima (3 hours, 50 minutes), Fukuoka and Okayama.
Take the shinkansen bullet train to Okayama Station and change for the Limited Express Yakumo for Yonago (2 hours) and Yasugi (2 hours, 20 minutes).
Izumo and Yonago are the two nearest airports with flights to Tokyo from both airports and to Osaka and Fukuoka from Izumo.
Nearby
Gassan Toda Castle Ruins are about 2km away from the Adachi Museum.
Adachi Museum of Art Gardens, Shimane Prefecture
Books on Japan
Adachi Museum of Art: the Adachi Museum of Art in Shimane prefecture showcases the art of Japanese painter Yokoyama Taikan and others amid its award-winning gardens by Kinsaku Nakane.
