This post was written in 2006. Some information may be out of date.
I went to the Adachi Museum of Art, one of the few tourist attractions in Shimane Prefecture, where I live. It shows modern Japanese artworks gathered by a private collector named Adachi, and the quality of the collection blew me away. The place was packed with pieces that are practically national-treasure grade. My main goal was to see the works of Kitaoji Rosanjin, but I came away with a lot more than that.
It’s really hard to describe without photos… The museum isn’t huge, but it covers a pretty wide range of fields. Oil paintings, picture-book art, folding screens, dressing tables, sculpture, ink-wash paintings, animal paintings, portraits, even ceramics. Most of it seemed to reflect the collector’s personal taste, and I was secretly envious. Picture this: sitting in a perfectly kept Japanese garden, surrounded by a twelve-panel folding screen and hanging scrolls whose birds look ready to take off at any moment, eating a meal off Rosanjin’s dishes… Isn’t that the ultimate luxury? Just imagining it makes me smile. (So… how much would I have to earn for that…)
There were lots of wonderful works, and my favourites were a large oil painting called “Utatane” (Doze) and a Buddhist statue that didn’t seem all that famous. Funnily enough, Rosanjin’s dishes themselves didn’t move me much. That’s not because Rosanjin isn’t great, it’s because his influence on later generations has been so huge. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of nice tableware here and there (not that I’ve bought any), and most of it doesn’t stray far from the styles Rosanjin experimented with. His own pieces have lost some of their freshness as a result, but thanks to him countless people now get to eat off beautiful ceramics. A phenomenon created by a single genius.
Photography inside the museum is banned, so this is unofficial, but I took photos of the garden of the Adachi Museum of Art, which has been named the best garden in Japan. Seeing it in person, I could see why it was picked as number one in Japan. ^_^; The gardens in Kyoto were nice too, but they’re small, so I don’t think they compare with this place. You’re not allowed to walk into the garden, though.
The view from the entrance..
The moss garden.
Hydrangeas. They really shine in the rainy season..
A monument celebrating its selection as Japan’s best
You can only enjoy it from the museum’s windows and corridors, but the whole thing is very well looked after.
It’s framed like a picture. A living landscape painting, you could say.. It would be lovely to live in a room like this. All of a sudden I was jealous of Mr. Adachi.
You can see a waterfall at the back, too.
A typical, charmingly compact Japanese garden style.
The window at the exit, another living landscape painting
They say it has a different charm in each of the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, so I’d like to go back in autumn when the leaves turn. It really was a wonderful place.