Description:
Comments from the website:
The garden is also a picture.” – The gardens vary in appearance every day. In fact, we might never see each beautiful moment again, and this is why the whole garden is always full of beauty. The founder Adachi Zenko, with the belief of “the garden is also a picture”, devoted himself to gardening until he died at the age of 91.The six gardens, including the Dry Landscape Garden, are about 165,000 square meters in total. They show various seasonal faces, and have good balance with the surrounding natural mountains. Thus, Adachi’s gardens are said to be a “living Japanese painting.”
The first question visitors to the Adachi Museum of Art ask, indeed the one they most often ask, is why there are so many works by Yokoyama Taikan. Visitors also seem puzzled by the Japanese-style garden, as though it is a mystery for such a magnificent garden to be located here in such a rural setting.The answer to both puzzles lies with Adachi Zenko, the museum’s founder. Adachi felt a strong resonance between the sublime sensibility of the Japanese-style garden and the paintings of Yokoyama Taikan which he wished visitors to experience.Adachi constructed his Japanese garden with the hope that through its seasonal expression of natural beauty visitors would be inspired to view Taikan’s paintings with a renewed sense of appreciation. This new appreciation would then lead to increased interest in the works of other Japanese painters, fulfilling Adachi’s hope that visitors would be “moved by beauty.”
Garden Features:
The Japanese garden covers a total area of about 165,000 square meters. Its six gardens include the Dry Landscape Garden, White Gravel and Pine Garden, the Moss Garden, Kikaku Waterfall and the Pond Garden. They are kept beautifully groomed at all times. A “Living Canvas” window within the museum creates a sixth feature; offering a carefully selected view of the garden as if it were a living painting.
Brochures with garden features and other information are available in several languages here: https://www.adachi-museum.or.jp/en/download
Garden History:
Adachi Museum of Art and its gardens were established in in 1970 by wealthy businessman, Zenko Adachi(1899-1990). Adachi went from his beginnings selling coal from a cart in Shimane Prefecture to making a fortune in real estate and textile manufacture.
More Resources:
- A short video of the Adachi Museum of Art garden in four seasons
- More information and images on the official website
- More About the Museum of Art
- There is another thread discussing Adachi Museum of Art here: Yokokan Gardens vs. Adachi Museum of Art