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Japanese Garden at Adachi Museum of Art in Shimane Prefecture Ranked #1 for 22nd Year in Row by U.S. Magazine

Courtesy of the Adachi Museum of Art
The Adachi Museum of Art’s Japanese garden is seen in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:20 JST, January 12, 2025

MATSUE — The Japanese garden at the Adachi Museum of Art in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, has been ranked #1 for a 22nd straight year by a U.S. magazine dedicated to Japanese gardens, the museum announced.

According to the museum, the list of the Sukiya Living Magazine (The Journal of Japanese Gardening) is created by about 30 gardening experts mainly from Europe and the United States. Out of about 1,000 gardens in Japan, the top 50 gardens are selected every year based on their quality and harmony with surrounding buildings.

The museum has seven full-time gardeners who manage approximately 165,000 square meters, which is mainly a karesansui, or a Zen garden, that incorporates mountains from the surrounding landscape.

The museum’s hospitality was also highly praised as employees with spare time have cleaned the garden every morning since its opening in 1970.

Museum director Takanori Adachi said, “All of us at the museum will work to preserve and maintain the garden together so that visitors will be moved to make repeat visits, and to show the charm of Japanese gardens to the rest of the world.”