Adachi Museum of Art

A museum in Yasugi, Shimane, whose garden a US Japanese-garden journal has ranked Japan's best 23 years running. Windows frame it like a living painting.

"A garden is also a painting"

The Adachi Museum of Art is in Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture. Adachi Zenko, a businessman born in the area, opened it in 1970 as a way of giving something back to his hometown.

Adachi believed that "a garden is also a painting", and he devoted himself to creating the garden until he died at 91. The founder's wish was for visitors to feel the beauty of Japan's nature in the garden first, and then to look at Japanese-style paintings.

Japan's number one garden, 23 years in a row

The garden covers about 50,000 tsubo (about 165,000 square metres). It includes a karesansui garden (a dry garden that uses sand and stones instead of water to represent mountains and flowing water), the Hakusha Seisho garden of white sand and pine trees, a moss garden and a pond garden, and it borrows the mountains behind as part of the view. There is also the 15 m Kikaku Waterfall, created from a painting of Nachi Falls (in Wakayama Prefecture) by Yokoyama Taikan.

In the rankings of the American Japanese-garden journal Sukiya Living (The Journal of Japanese Gardening), it has been chosen as Japan's best for 23 years in a row. It has also earned three stars in the Michelin Green Guide Japon.

The garden is not for walking in: it is designed to be viewed through the museum's windows. The Living Framed Painting, which treats a window frame as a picture frame, and the Living Hanging Scroll, which crops the garden like the scroll hanging in a tokonoma alcove, are ways of showing it that are unique to this museum.

The Yokoyama Taikan collection

The museum holds about 120 works by Yokoyama Taikan, a master of modern Japanese-style painting. The Shimane tourism site describes it as one of Japan's finest collections of his work in both quality and quantity. It also holds other modern and contemporary Japanese-style paintings, ceramics and more.

The garden changes with the seasons. In summer, gardeners reportedly spend about two months tending some 800 red pines. Allow about two hours for your visit.

Getting there

The nearest station is Yasugi Station on the JR San'in Main Line, and a free shuttle bus runs every day from the station to the museum (about 20 minutes). From Yonago Station to Yasugi Station takes about 10 minutes on the JR.

From Yonago Airport, take the airport bus to JR Yonago Station; from Izumo Airport, take the airport bus to JR Matsue Station; then continue by JR to Yasugi Station. Check the official website for opening hours, admission fees and shuttle bus times.

Tips

• The garden is viewed from inside the museum, and you cannot walk in it. The view changes from window to window, so take your time and stop often as you go round.
• The free shuttle bus from Yasugi Station runs to a fixed timetable. Check the timetable on the official website against your train's arrival time so you are not left waiting.
• The museum has announced that closing times will change from October 2026 to March 2027. If you are visiting in winter, check the latest hours on the official website.

Sources

• 足立美術館 ADACHI MUSEUM OF ART（公式）
• 庭園 | 足立美術館（公式）
• アクセス | 足立美術館（公式）
• 日本庭園が米誌ランキングで「23年連続日本一」に選ばれました | 足立美術館（公式）
• 「庭園日本一」足立美術館の魅力とは | しまね観光ナビ（島根県公式観光情報サイト）

Updated 28 September 2026. Opening hours and prices change, so check the official site before you go.