“A garden is thought of as a living canvas.”
- Welcome to the World of Great Artistic Gardens -
The gardens vary in appearance every day. The garden view is always full of a once-in-a-lifetime beauty. The founder Adachi Zenko, with his belief that “the garden is also a canvas”, devoted himself to gardening until he died at the age of 91. The 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.”
You can see garden photos.
You can see garden photos.
This is the main garden of Adachi Museum of Art. A beautiful balance is maintained between the surrounding mountains and the garden. This is a moment just after the rain has stopped. A rainbow appears in the center of the picture, sunlight appears over the garden, and the leaves have begun to slowly turn into red on the mountain in background. You can feel the beauty of nature’s colors.
This is the stone arrangement of the Dry Landscape Garden.
The three upright rocks arranged in the center represent steep mountains, from which the water falls down into the white gravel in front.
The garden was created to express a deep sense of nature, in the traditional dry landscape gardening method.
Haircap and other types of moss gently curve to express simple aesthetics.
This is a tasteful, noble garden in the Kyoto style.
The red pine trees are all planted at oblique angles.
This is based on the gardener's idea that because the trees normally grow on mountain slopes,
they shouldn't be forced to grow perpendicular to the ground.
With the motif of Beautiful Pine Beach, a masterpiece by Yokoyama Taikan,
Adachi Zenko devoted all of his energy to create this garden.
On the white gravel hills, large and small pine trees are arranged, successfully representing Taikan’s art world.
The top of the waterfall is at the back of the garden, and the water flows into the front large pond, carving as if flowing into the valley.
The stones are the famous Saji-ishi from Tottori Prefecture.
On the right side of the pond, black pines are arranged, while red pines are arranged on the left.
This is the Pond Garden in autumn. Sunlight and shadow are reflected on the pond surface to give a sense of comfort to the viewer.
At the front, there is a tea house, Seifu, which is meant for enjoying Sen-cha, green tea made from specially prepared tea leaves.
This enhances nobility, combined with various trees and the stone arrangement.
This is the Pond Garden encompassing a calm atmosphere, after a snowfall.
The water is fed by springs, and its temperature is stable.
This allows carp to swim throughout the year, and they seem comfortable, even in winter.
The Kikaku Waterfall was artificially created on Mt. Kikaku, the background of the Adachi Museum’s gardens, in 1978,
in commemoration of the 8th anniversary of the foundation.
The design of waterfalls was based on a Yokoyama Taikan’s work, Waterfall in Nachi, which is housed in the museum.
The idea to incorporate the world of Taikan's works into the gardens is unique to the museum. The falls are 15 meters tall, falling down on the bare rock.
This is a “Living Framed Painting” with the window frame regarded as a picture frame.
Adachi Zenko said that the garden was also a live picture.
This “living” painting varies its appearance according to the changing seasons and the shifting sunlight.
The Living Hanging Scroll was created with a wall cut out. You can see the garden through this scroll-like window.
It appears as a hanging scroll that depicts mountains and water, similarly to a sansui-ga (landscape painting).
It does not need to be changed according to the season, as nature changes it. The seasonal changes can always be seen through the Living Hanging Scroll.
