Adachi Museum of Art (足立美術館), Yasugi, Japan

This article was updated on 18 Sep 2021 to clarify the details on taking the train to Yasugi Station and the Adachi Art Museum.

The Adachi Museum of Art (足立美術館, Adachi Bijutsukan) should be on everyone's sightseeing list when visiting Japan. While it is an art museum, the real reason you should visit the museum is to see the 16.5 hectare (40.7 acre) garden. The garden has been voted the number one Japanese garden since 2003 by the Journal of Japanese Gardening. The museum's founder, local businessman Zenkō Adachi (1899-1990), believed "the garden is also a picture" and devoted himself to gardening until his death. As seen in the picture above, the inside of the museum was designed to frame the garden as a picture. While the views from inside the museum impressive, the views of the garden from outside of the building are spectacular (visitors are not allowed into the garden themselves). The views change with the four seasons, so one visit will only give you a glimpse of garden's possibilities. I've been fortunate to visit the garden twice, once in Dec 2009, and more recently on 14 Nov 2017. Please continue reading the rest of the article and to see more photographs.

The Dry Landscape Garden

As you walk through the museum, you will not only view Japanese art within the buildings, you will also have opportunities to view and photograph the surrounding gardens. Photographs are not allowed of the art objects inside the museum, but you are allowed to take pictures of the gardens. There are really six gardens: 

• The Dry Landscape Garden

• The Moss Garden

• The White Gravel and Pine Garden

• The Pond Garden

• The Kikaku Waterfall

The gardens can also be admired from the outside of the museum building. Depending upon your location, you will get different perspectives on the gardens. Visitors are not allowed into the gardens and must do their admiring from the viewing areas around the museum building, both inside and out.

Kikaku Waterfall from the Dry Landscape Garden

The museum has also gone to great lengths to maintain the garden's appearance and to preserve the view. Kikaku Mountain, where the artificial Kikaku Waterfall was installed (yes, it is not natural), was purchased by the museum. Not only was the mountain purchased, but all of the surrounding mountains that are visible from the garden. So no man-made objects (e.g. power lines and towers) will ever be installed in the surrounding mountains to preserve the views!

The Moss Garden

I watched an NHK program online (NHK is Japan's Public Broadcasting Station) about the Adachi Museum of Art's gardens. Unfortunately the program is no longer available online, but it showed the dedication and (I would say) obsessive attention to detail that the groundskeepers put into maintaining the appearance of the gardens. One practice highlighted is keeping the size of the pine trees the same in the garden to provide a consistent garden view. There is a pine tree farm, not far away from the museum, that is maintained to provide replacement pine trees for the garden. When a pine tree exceeds the size specified in the garden's plan, the pine tree in the garden is replaced with the appropriate sized tree from the farm!

The Path to Juraku-an (寿立庵) Tea House

There is also a tea house in the garden. Juraku-an (寿立庵) has a separate fee of ¥1000 (cash only) to enter, which includes a cup of matcha green tea. However there's no fee to stroll outside the museum building to admire the garden in front of the tea house. This outside stroll is encouraged, and while you are entering the tea house garden, you are not entering the (off-limits) main gardens (you are actually walking between two gardens). For those that want to drink more than green tea, there are two cafes in the museum building. Not only can you satisfy your hunger, you also get great views of the Dry Landscape or Pond Garden outside the windows, depending upon which café you go to.

Living Hanging Scrolls (生の掛軸) Building

Also along the way, there is a building between the White Gravel and Pine Garden and the Pond Garden that contains Living Hanging Scrolls (生の掛軸), which is well known in Japan. Rather than hanging a scroll on a wall, Zenkō Adachi cut a hole in a wall in the shape of a (large) scroll, so that views of people moving outside while viewing the White Gravel and Pine Garden (hence the name, "Living Hanging Scrolls") are visible from inside the building. Think of the view as a movie, rather than a picture, in the shape of a large scroll. You view the Living Hanging Scroll from outside the building through an open wall.

The White Gravel and Pine Garden

So hopefully I have interested you in visiting the Adachi Museum of Art. The town of Yasugi is located in Shimane Prefecture, which is on the Sea of Japan coast. Unfortunately, this cannot be done as a day trip from Tokyo and the museum is away from the major foreign Japanese tourists attractions. If you are staying in Osaka or Kyoto, you can take the Shinkansen to Okayama (about 50 min from Osaka and another 30 min from Kyoto), which is a gateway for trains to the Sea of Japan coast, and then transfer to a limited express train that takes you through the mountains to Yasugi (about 140 min). The limited express train stops at Yasugi station, which is a tiny station that would not normally warrant such service, only because of the museum being such a large tourist attraction. For one of my trips, I stayed in the town of Matsue, on the Sea of Japan coast and only 15 min from Yasugi by limited express train, and is a great option if you want to also see more of Shimane Prefecture.

• Tip: The earlier you arrive at the museum, the better, since the tour groups and crowds arrive as the day goes on.

There is a free shuttle bus from Yasugi Station to the museum (around 20 min), which is timed around train arrivals, that drops you off at the museum entrance. The bus is not that large and can fill up quickly, and if that happens, your options are to wait for the next bus (usually in the next hour) or take a taxi. The bus was not crowded when I took it to the museum. Plan on spending at least two hours or more at the museum. The admission fee for an adult is ¥2300, but if you present your overseas passport, there's a 50% discount, so admission will be ¥1150. The discount is quite substantial, so don't forget to bring your passport! Unfortunately this discount is not listed on the museum's website.

Return Shuttle Bus to Yasugi Station

After paying the admission fee and before entering the museum, you need to pick up a free token for the return shuttle bus trip to Yasugi station. This is important, so don't forget. So you have to guess how long you're going to be at the museum before taking the shuttle bus back to Yasugi Station. If you guess wrong, like I did, you can ask the person at the entrance gate to exit the museum to get a token for a different time (I needed an earlier token), and then re-enter the museum. There are good reasons for remembering to get a return token. The first being that the number of tokens is limited to the number of seats on the bus (which makes perfect sense), so the popular times get taken first. The second reason is that if you have a reserved seat on the limited express train from Yasugi Station, available shuttle bus token times may make you miss the train.

• Tip: My shuttle bus back to Yasugi Station was packed, so make sure you line up for the bus as soon as you exit the museum, which is not in the same location as the entrance.

For the shuttle bus, there are seats that fold out into the aisle, so every bit of passenger space was filled for my return trip. I now understand why this is illegal in the USA because if there ever was an emergency, the only way out is through the windows or over other passengers.

Stone Fountain Near Juraku-an (寿立庵) Tea House

Adachi Museum of Art (足立美術館) Information and Access

Name:

• Adachi Museum of Art

• 足立美術館

Address:

• 320 Furukawachō, 古川町 Yasugi-shi, Shimane-ken 692-0064, Japan

• 〒692-0064 島根県安来市古川町３２０

Access:

• Japan Rail Pass (7-, 14-, 21-day):

• Valid for travel throughout Japan on Japan Rail (with some exceptions).
• Purchase outside of Japan. Must show passport and have a short-term (90 day) visitor's stamp to redeem at selected airports and rail stations. (This is changing)
• Once activated, must be used on consecutive days (i.e. cannot skip days).
• Website : https://japanrailpass.net/en/.

• Use Hyperdia to plan your rail trip: http://www.hyperdia.com/en/.

• The nearest train station to the Adachi Art Museum is Yasugi Station. Traveling to Yasugi Station from central Japan requires a train transfer at Okayama Station.
• If starting in Kyoto, there are two options to get to Okayama Station:

• Take the Japan Rail (JR) special rapid train from Kyoto to Osaka (Shin-Osaka Station) and transfer to a Shinkansen for Okayama:
• The train trip from Kyoto to Osaka (Shin-Osaka Station) takes 25 minutes by JR special rapid train and is fully covered by the JR Pass, otherwise the cost is:

• All seats Unreserved: ¥560
• See the "If starting in Osaka" section below for taking the Shinkansen from Osaka (Shin-Osaka Station) to Okayama.

• Take the Hikari Shinkansen from Kyoto to Okayama:

• The Shinkansen trip from Kyoto to Okayama by Hikari Shinkansen takes approx. 82 minutes and is fully covered by the JR Rail Pass, otherwise the cost is:
• Unreserved: ¥7010
• Reserved: ¥7330
• Green Seat: ¥11,120

• If starting in Osaka (Shin-Osaka Station), Okayama Station can be reached by taking the Sakura Shinkansen:
• The Shinkansen trip from Osaka (Shin-Osaka Station) to Okayama takes approx. 50 minutes and the Shinkansen trip is fully covered by the JR Pass, otherwise the cost is:

• Unreserved: ¥5500
• Reserved: ¥6020
• Green Seat: ¥8250

• Transfer at Okayama Station and take a Limited Express Yakumo train to Yasugi Station:

• The train trip from Okayama to Yasugi Stations takes approx. 140 minutes and is fully covered by the JR Pass, otherwise the cost is:
• Unreserved: ¥5180
• Reserved: ¥5700
• Green Seat: ¥7930

• Take the free Adachi Museum of Art Shuttle Bus at Yasugi Station to the museum, which takes approx. 20 minutes.

• Prices are accurate as of the published date of this article and are subject to change.

Hours and Admission Fee:

• No closing dates:

• April-September: 9:00-17:30.
• October-March: 9:00-17:00.

• Adult: ¥2300 (50% discount for overseas passport holders).

• Remember to take a free token for the return shuttle bus trip to Yasugi Station after paying admission and before entering the museum.

• Information accurate as of the published date of the article and is subject to change.

Websites:

• The Japan Guide website is a good starting place for planning a trip to the museum:

• https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5806.html.

• The official Adachi Museum of Art website:

• https://www.adachi-museum.or.jp/en/.

• Plan your train trip using Hyperdia:
• http://www.hyperdia.com/en/.

• Japan Rail Pass (7-, 14-, 21-day):

• https://japanrailpass.net/en/.

• The Adachi Museum of Art Shuttle Bus Schedule:

• https://www.adachi-museum.or.jp/en/shuttle_bus.

Map:

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