This Japanese Garden is a Piece of Art
The gardens at the Adachi Museum of Art are as much a work of art as the paintings inside
Although the Adachi Museum of Art is not easily accessible – it lies a 20 minute drive away from the Yasugi railway station – it is one of the main attractions of Japan’s San’in region, on the south-west of Japan’s main island. More than 18 million people have visited the museum since its opening. It owes its fame not only to its collection of works by modern Japanese painters such as Yokoyama Taikan, but also to the outstanding beauty of its gardens. These have won first place in the American-published Sukiya Living: the Journal of Japanese Gardening’s rankings for 14 consecutive years and received three stars in the Michelin Green Guides’ Travel Guide Japan. So what makes them so fascinating to both locals and foreign visitors?
Photos by Kaori Fujiyama unless otherwise indicated
The Moss Garden
The first thing you see upon entering the museum is the Moss Garden, where so-called hair moss (Polytrichum juniperinum) is the main focus. The garden is delicate and elegant, adorned with Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) and maple trees (Acer palmatum). Visitors may not walk through this garden, but just looking at it from the gallery gives the viewer the impression that he or she is strolling across a stone bridge spanning a sea of white sand.
Although one might think that Japanese gardens are all about carefully arranged stones decorated with spherical pruned trees, this garden respects the natural growth of the trees; these have been allowed to grow chaotically and at angles, just as they would when situated on a mountain slope.
The Moss Garden
The first thing you see upon entering the museum is the Moss Garden, where so-called hair moss (Polytrichum juniperinum) is the main focus. The garden is delicate and elegant, adorned with Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora) and maple trees (Acer palmatum). Visitors may not walk through this garden, but just looking at it from the gallery gives the viewer the impression that he or she is strolling across a stone bridge spanning a sea of white sand.
Although one might think that Japanese gardens are all about carefully arranged stones decorated with spherical pruned trees, this garden respects the natural growth of the trees; these have been allowed to grow chaotically and at angles, just as they would when situated on a mountain slope.
The soothing combination of pine and moss is a classic and characteristic trait of Japanese gardens. The natural beauty of this garden easily captures viewers’ hearts without being overwhelming.
A single stone lantern faces the sand. With its stone cap, it is evocative of a lighthouse gazing down at calm waters. All of a sudden, you feel as though you have become much smaller, and the sand seems to be a vast ocean. It would be nice to jump into a boat and sail across it.
A single stone lantern faces the sand. With its stone cap, it is evocative of a lighthouse gazing down at calm waters. All of a sudden, you feel as though you have become much smaller, and the sand seems to be a vast ocean. It would be nice to jump into a boat and sail across it.
The Garden of the Juryu-an Tea House
Past the Moss Garden, a long stone path leads to the Juryu-an tea house, one of two on the property. It is an imitation of the Shokintei tea house at the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. This tea garden masterfully utilises the aesthetic principle of shin, gyo and so, which originates in the rules for calligraphy, and classifies creative works (in this case, the garden) into three levels of formality based on the degree to which they adhere to formal rules (here, the rules for formal gardens) – though you often find elements of all three in a work. Shin designates strict formality, gyō leans towards less adherence to the rules and sō is a rough, freehand manner.
The nobedan path leading to the tea house, composed of both natural (rough) and hewn stones, is an example of gyo style. As we go through the gate and the tea house comes into view, the rough stones disappear from the path, making it shin. Such shin paths are often used in very formal locations. After going through the gate and adopting a fitting attitude and state of mind for such a formal space, we head straight to the tea house.
Past the Moss Garden, a long stone path leads to the Juryu-an tea house, one of two on the property. It is an imitation of the Shokintei tea house at the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. This tea garden masterfully utilises the aesthetic principle of shin, gyo and so, which originates in the rules for calligraphy, and classifies creative works (in this case, the garden) into three levels of formality based on the degree to which they adhere to formal rules (here, the rules for formal gardens) – though you often find elements of all three in a work. Shin designates strict formality, gyō leans towards less adherence to the rules and sō is a rough, freehand manner.
The nobedan path leading to the tea house, composed of both natural (rough) and hewn stones, is an example of gyo style. As we go through the gate and the tea house comes into view, the rough stones disappear from the path, making it shin. Such shin paths are often used in very formal locations. After going through the gate and adopting a fitting attitude and state of mind for such a formal space, we head straight to the tea house.
The garden is a classic niju roji, or garden consisting of two parts, the “inner” and “outer” halves. In this garden, visitors are allowed to explore a little on their own. In a tea ceremony, a walk in a tea garden serves as a way to leave worldly thoughts behind and meet the host of the ceremony with a pure heart. Therefore, there is nothing ostentatious about the garden of Juryu-an, which is a great example of Japanese spirituality.
After passing through the middle gate, one must ritually cleanse one’s mouth and hands with water from a tsukubai (a small stone washbasin), before one can approach the low entrance to the tea room. The rules of a Japanese tea ceremony are strict.
This tsukubai, consisting of two superimposed square-shaped bowls, is a replica of the one in Shokintei, allowing visitors to experience the same atmosphere as that of the Imperial Villa. There are more tsukubai at the museum: Each is eye-catching and serves as a focal point of the composition. As part of your garden-viewing tour, take some time to admire the unique atmosphere they create.
This tsukubai, consisting of two superimposed square-shaped bowls, is a replica of the one in Shokintei, allowing visitors to experience the same atmosphere as that of the Imperial Villa. There are more tsukubai at the museum: Each is eye-catching and serves as a focal point of the composition. As part of your garden-viewing tour, take some time to admire the unique atmosphere they create.
Only after this purification of the mind and body in the tsukubai may one enter the tea room, first bowing deeply to enter through the tiny nijiriguchi, the crawling entrance.
The tea room itself is no less interesting than the garden. Its alcoves are decorated with traditional hanging scrolls and seasonal flowers in vases. The simple way in which this space is decorated allows whoever is hosting the ceremony to demonstrate his or her good taste in selecting finishing touches.
The walls are made of a plaster with rapeseed oil in it, which slowly turns black over time, giving the walls a dull black tint.
The tea room itself is no less interesting than the garden. Its alcoves are decorated with traditional hanging scrolls and seasonal flowers in vases. The simple way in which this space is decorated allows whoever is hosting the ceremony to demonstrate his or her good taste in selecting finishing touches.
The walls are made of a plaster with rapeseed oil in it, which slowly turns black over time, giving the walls a dull black tint.
The outer walls are called “firefly walls” in Japan because of the iron in the plaster they are made from. Iron oxidises with time, resulting in a distinct pattern on the wall that resembles a swarm of fireflies.
Thus, even the buildings change with time. Though they may initially appear to be decaying, their look is an example of the unique wabi-sabi aesthetic, which centers around appreciation of the imperfect.
Thus, even the buildings change with time. Though they may initially appear to be decaying, their look is an example of the unique wabi-sabi aesthetic, which centers around appreciation of the imperfect.
A living picture. Photo by the Adachi Museum of Art
The Stone Garden
This is the main garden of the Adachi Art Museum. It is a karesansui (literally, “dry landscape") or stone garden. As the name suggests, it is a garden that represents a natural landscape without using water. Fully comprehending its grand scale, with the mountains looming in the background, is not a simple task. The garden, which is meant to be enjoyed from inside the museum as a kind of living picture, is truly an embodiment of the idea that “the garden is, so to speak, also a picture scroll.”
When you look at it, it feels like you’re floating in the middle of a vast sea that spreads from the foot of the majestic mountains. The act of contemplating the stones – artificial yet in harmony with all the other elements of the garden – brings great peace of mind.
The Stone Garden
This is the main garden of the Adachi Art Museum. It is a karesansui (literally, “dry landscape") or stone garden. As the name suggests, it is a garden that represents a natural landscape without using water. Fully comprehending its grand scale, with the mountains looming in the background, is not a simple task. The garden, which is meant to be enjoyed from inside the museum as a kind of living picture, is truly an embodiment of the idea that “the garden is, so to speak, also a picture scroll.”
When you look at it, it feels like you’re floating in the middle of a vast sea that spreads from the foot of the majestic mountains. The act of contemplating the stones – artificial yet in harmony with all the other elements of the garden – brings great peace of mind.
Photo by the Adachi Museum of Art
This is what the stone garden looks like in the spring. Each year, the trees are thoroughly pruned around June, when the satsuki azaleas (Rhododendron indicum x Rhododendron eriocarpum) have stopped blooming. Additional trimming is also carried out 10 times or so per year. This eliminates most of the buds, allowing the remaining ones enough resources to bloom fully.
This is what the stone garden looks like in the spring. Each year, the trees are thoroughly pruned around June, when the satsuki azaleas (Rhododendron indicum x Rhododendron eriocarpum) have stopped blooming. Additional trimming is also carried out 10 times or so per year. This eliminates most of the buds, allowing the remaining ones enough resources to bloom fully.
The grandeur of the stonework is a matter of course, but the mountains in the background – the so-called “borrowed scenery” in Japanese gardening terms –also account for a major part of the garden’s appeal. One gets a sense of something divine when taking in this garden and can’t help but be awed in the face of the wild nature that we humans cannot tame.
This garden magnificently expresses the beauty of ever-changing nature through the borrowed scenery: precisely what the founder sought to convey when creating it.
This garden magnificently expresses the beauty of ever-changing nature through the borrowed scenery: precisely what the founder sought to convey when creating it.
Photo by the Adachi Museum of Art
The stone garden under a blanket of snow.
The stone garden under a blanket of snow.
The Garden of White Sand and Blue Pine
This garden is also iconic of the museum and its work. It is a live replica of the Japanese painter Yokoyama Taikan’s masterpiece, A Beautiful Pine Beach. Adachi loved Taikan’s art, and there are 120 of his works in the museum’s collections.
Here black pine trees grow on the right and red pine trees grow on the left, creating an emphatic contrast.
This garden is also iconic of the museum and its work. It is a live replica of the Japanese painter Yokoyama Taikan’s masterpiece, A Beautiful Pine Beach. Adachi loved Taikan’s art, and there are 120 of his works in the museum’s collections.
Here black pine trees grow on the right and red pine trees grow on the left, creating an emphatic contrast.
The black pines are kept small, but their shapes trick the viewer into perceiving them as large, making the garden feel more spacious than it actually is, like in the art of bonsai.
On the right in the background is a narrow stream of water. It is an artificial waterfall named Kikaku Waterfall. It is a replica of another masterpiece by Yokoyama Taikan, Waterfall in Nachi. Since both of the mentioned works of art are in the museum’s collections, visitors can entertain themselves by comparing the paintings to their live outdoor versions.
On the right in the background is a narrow stream of water. It is an artificial waterfall named Kikaku Waterfall. It is a replica of another masterpiece by Yokoyama Taikan, Waterfall in Nachi. Since both of the mentioned works of art are in the museum’s collections, visitors can entertain themselves by comparing the paintings to their live outdoor versions.
There is another tea house, Juraku-an, near the Garden of White Sand and Blue Pine. You can look at the garden from within, through a pair of narrow windows that are intended to resemble hanging painting scrolls. Instead of paintings, these “scrolls” contain the outside scenery, which is meant to be viewed as a living picture.
It was in the Adachi Museum of Art that the idea of enjoying the scenery of a garden through a narrow “window-scroll” originated. They say that, when the idea struck him, the founder immediately grabbed a hammer and broke through the wall. The garden he created, which maintains respect for tradition yet fearlessly probes new horizons, keeps surprising viewers with its novelty after all these years.
It was in the Adachi Museum of Art that the idea of enjoying the scenery of a garden through a narrow “window-scroll” originated. They say that, when the idea struck him, the founder immediately grabbed a hammer and broke through the wall. The garden he created, which maintains respect for tradition yet fearlessly probes new horizons, keeps surprising viewers with its novelty after all these years.
The alcove in the Juraku-an tea house
Photo by the Adachi Museum of Art
Zenko Adachi had an extraordinary passion for gardening and Japanese art. It is said that every night he dreamt of the ideal garden, and that every morning and evening he could be found in one of the gardens of his museum, eagerly making the dream a reality. The museum’s new gardeners have inherited his spirit, and care for the gardens with a meticulousness that is unimaginable in ordinary gardening.
Although all the techniques and forms used here are traditional, even modern observers can’t help but agree that the museum’s gardens are beautiful. Japanese gardens seek to reflect nature itself. Precisely because these gardens so perfectly embody this Japanese aesthetic sense, you don’t need special knowledge of Japanese gardening to enjoy the vision of nature in its pure form.
Read more:
A Beginner’s Guide to the Japanese Tea Garden
How to Turn Your Home Into a Zen-Inspired Space
Tell us:
Are you fond of Japanese gardens? What did you think about this one? Share in Comments.
Zenko Adachi had an extraordinary passion for gardening and Japanese art. It is said that every night he dreamt of the ideal garden, and that every morning and evening he could be found in one of the gardens of his museum, eagerly making the dream a reality. The museum’s new gardeners have inherited his spirit, and care for the gardens with a meticulousness that is unimaginable in ordinary gardening.
Although all the techniques and forms used here are traditional, even modern observers can’t help but agree that the museum’s gardens are beautiful. Japanese gardens seek to reflect nature itself. Precisely because these gardens so perfectly embody this Japanese aesthetic sense, you don’t need special knowledge of Japanese gardening to enjoy the vision of nature in its pure form.
Read more:
A Beginner’s Guide to the Japanese Tea Garden
How to Turn Your Home Into a Zen-Inspired Space
Tell us:
Are you fond of Japanese gardens? What did you think about this one? Share in Comments.
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Embraced by mountains and surrounded by lush natural scenery, the Adachi Museum of Art changes with every season, and even from morning to night. Located far away from the busy streets of the city, it is quiet and peaceful.
The museum was founded by Zenko Adachi (1899–1990), and stands on the very place where he was born. Adachi was a successful businessman and used his wealth to collect famous Japanese paintings. Right from the museum’s foundation, his vision was to have visitors enhance their experience of the artwork by first passing by the gardens and taking in their natural beauty. In his words, “the garden is, so to speak, also a picture scroll.”
After hearing these words for the first time, I can’t even count how many times they have resounded in my head as I admired the museum’s gardens.