Yufuin Museums & Art Galleries
- Art Hall
- Comico Art Museum
- Trick 3D Art Yufuin
- Yufuin Mingei Mura
- Yufuin Retro Motor Museum
- Yufuin Dream Museum
- Yufuin Chagall Museum
- Sueda Art Museum
- Yufuin Accommodation
- Yufuin Access
Yufuin Museums & Art Galleries 由布院
Jake Davies
Yufuin is a very popular rural hot spring resort in the mountains of Oita Prefecture in Kyushu. As well as offering a wide variety of hot springs and traditional accommodations it also has some great hiking up Mount Yufu which towers over the town. However, what really sets Yufuin apart from many other hot spring towns is the wide range of art galleries and museums running from the high brow to the low brow.
Comico Art Museum, designed by Kuma Kengo, is newly opened in Yufuin
Art Hall
If you arrive by train then the first gallery you come across is the Art Hall, a single room displaying artworks with exhibitions that change monthly. It doubles as the waiting room for Yufuin Station.
Comico Art Museum
The newest, and possibly the most high brow, gallery in Yufuin is the Comico Art Museum. In buildings designed by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, they have two galleries, one currently exhibiting works by Takashi Murakami, one of the most world famous modern artists of Japan, and the other gallery displaying the monochrome photographic seascapes of Sugimoto Hiroshi.
The only way to visit the museum is on a guided tour, which last one hour, and Start every 20 minutes. It is recommended that you book in advance, though at less busy times you may be able to just turn up and find a space on a tour. Online reservations, in English, can be done at this website camy.oita.jp/schedule
Comico Art Museum
2995-1 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufu-shi, Oita 879 5102
Open from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, closed every other Monday and when exhibitions are changed.
Adults 1,500 yen, school children 1,000 yen, younger children free.
Yufuin Trick 3D Art is a small gallery specializing in intriguing two dimensional illusions
Trick 3D Art Yufuin
Galleries showing Trick 3D Art have sprung up all over the world in the past decade. Though based on an older style of painting known as Tromp-L'oeil, its current popularity may well spring from the obsession with selfies, as the art lends itself to being photographed with the viewer placing him or herself so as to enhance the illusion. One of the greatest proponents of the art in Japan is Masashi Hattori, and the gallery in Yufuin has two floors of his paintings to amaze and amuse, especially kids.
Trick 3D Art
3001-8 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufu-shi, Oita 879 5102
Tel: 0977 84 5058
Open 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, 7 days a week
Adults 850 yen, Elementary/Junior High 650 yen
One of the impressive traditional buildings that makes up the Yufuin Folk Art Village (Yufuin Mingei Mura)
Yufuin Mingei Mura
The Folk Crafts village (Yufuin Mingei Mura) is housed in several largish, traditional buildings that have been reassembled on the site. There are workshops, studios, shops, and galleries devoted to a variety of traditional folk arts and crafts including paper making, glass-blowing, pottery and indigo dyeing. There is a lot of such items for sale and it is also possible to sign up for hand-on workshops and classes.
Yufuin Mingei Mura
1542-1 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufu-shi, Oita 879-5102
Tel: 0977 85 2288
Open 8.30 am to 5.30 am, 7 days a week
Entry 650 yen
The Yufuin Retro Motor Museum featuring more than 100 classic cars, motorbikes and other vehicles
Yufuin Retro Motor Museum
The Yufuin Retro Motor Museum has a collection of about 70 cars and 30 motorbikes as well as a smattering of other objects, mostly early post war electronics, on display. Many of the cars and bikes are classics, though many are not in pristine condition. Many were featured in famous Japanese movies and TV series. As well as many early Japanese vehicles, there are plenty of American and European ones too. There is not much in the way of explanations, but most things will be well known to car enthusiasts.
Yufuin Retro Motor Museum
1539-1 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufuin-shi, Oita 879-5102
Tel: 0977 84 3909
Open from 9.15 am to 5.15 pm. Closed on Thursdays unless it is a national holiday.
Adults 800 yen, kids 400 yen
Yufuin Dream Museum and Showa Retro Museum
Yufuin Dream Museum
Yufuin Dream Museum consists of two distinct parts. On the ground level is a reconstruction of a Showa Period street with shops and homes filled with articles from the 1950's and 60's, a period that seems to inspire deep nostalgia in many Japanese. It offers a fascinating glimpse into that bygone age for foreign visitors. Upstairs on the second floor is a museum dedicated to Kiyoshi Yamashita (1922-1971) an eccentric Japanese artist who is sometimes called the Japanese Van Gogh. He is known for spending 16 years walking around Japan and his artworks are diverse in style but heavily feature collage.
Yufuin Dream Museum
1479-1 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufu-shi, Oita 879-5102
Tel: 0977 85 2377
Open 9 am to 5 pm, 7 days a week
Adults 700 yen, children 400 yen
The Yufuin Chagall Museum with art by the famous painter and a cafe with gorgeous lake views
Yufuin Chagall Museum
Yufuin Chagall Museum is located in a large, black, wooden barn-like building on the banks of Lake Kinrin, a very popular scenic spot. The second floor is the art gallery that features several dozen lithographs by Marc Chagall. More popular though is the first floor Cafe La Ruche which has view out over the lake. It is particularly popular for breakfast at which time the lake is usually covered in mist.
Yufuin Chagall Museum
1592-1 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufuin-shi, Oita 879-5102
Tel: 0977 28 8500
Open from 9 am to 5.30 pm, Mondays to Saturdays. 7 am to 5.30 pm on Sundays and during Golden Week and Obon.
Adults 600 yen. High school and junior high school students 500 yen, elementary students 400 yen
The Sueda Art Museum displays modern sculptures by a husband and wife team, the Suedas
Sueda Art Museum
Sueda Art Museum is a private gallery displaying the works of husband and wife sculptors Ryusuke and Shiori Sueda. Their work is primarily abstract and modern in stone, steel, and other materials. The interior of the gallery was designed by the same architect that designed the new Kyoto Station, Hiroshi Hara.
Sueda Art Museum
1834 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufuin-shi, Oita 879-5102
Tel: 0977 85 3572
Open from 9 am to 5pm, 7 days a week.
Adults 700 yen, junior high school students and elementary school students 500 yen.
Accommodation in Yufuin
Like most Japanese towns and cities, the area around the main railway station is dotted with a variety of hotels. Some recommended places to stay in Yufuin include the two star Etavia Yufuinekimae, the four star Yufuin Kotobuki Hananosho, the four-star Ryokan Jo-no-yu and the Yufuin Sansuikan also with four stars. See here for a full listing of hotel accommodation in Yufuin.
Access - Getting to Yufuin
Local JR trains on the Kyudai Line take 1 hour and 15 minutes from Beppu via Oita to Yufuin Station. Limited expresses do the same journey in 60 minutes.
From Hakata Station in Fukuoka, Yufuin is 2 hours, 16 minutes by Limited Express. From Kokura take the sonic Limited Express to Oita (90 minutes) and change to the Kyudai Line.
Rickshaw terminal near Yufuin Station
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Yufuin Museums & Art Galleries: what really sets Yufuin in Oita Prefecture apart from many other hot spring onsen towns is its wide range of art galleries and museums running from the high brow to the low brow.