This morning we are headed to the Adachi Gardens and Museum which is about a forty minute drive and we got there about 11.00. The gardens are absolutely amazing and the presentation of same is immaculate as you would expect. You cannot actually walk in the garden for fear of causing damage and also the small stones are expertly raked and so it a no go but what you do is go through an air conditioned building with windows looking over the garden. There are places to stop and sit and contemplate all the way along and the colour of the trees and shrubs etc, no flowers in Japanese gardens, and it really is a site to behold. There are photos of the gardens taken at differed times of the year showing what its looks like in the snow, or when the Acer trees are changing to their colour. Yes really a place to visit many times if you can. Its is of course very different to Wisley Royal Horticultural Gardens in Surrey.The late founder Adachi Zenko (1899-1990) started working when he was 11 years old and clearly was a very clever guy and by the time he was 15 was employing men much older than himself. His love of gardens and beauty meant that he spent the major part of his life to create what is now recognised as the best garden in Japan. People come from far and wide to visit this location including us from Weybridge.
The Adachi Museum of Art is located in Shimane prefecture's Yasugi city. This highly regarded museum is located on a site covering an area of 50,000 tsubo, or about 165,000 square meters. The impressive art collection focuses on Japanese painting, and the magnificent and grand gardens, which include a dry landscape garden, harmonize with the surrounding natural environment.
The gardens here have been ranked number one for an impressive 14 consecutive years (as of 2017) among Japanese gardens in 'SUKIYA LIVING MAGAZINE', an American publication devoted exclusively to Japanese-style gardens, and now, both in name and reality, they serve as Japan's representative gardens.
If you look out from the main building of this museum you can see the many gardens and inside there's also a collection of Japanese painting and ceramics on display, and in the new annex building there's an exhibition of modern Japanese painting.
We left the Museum and garden having previously enjoyed an ice tea in one of the many little cafes which look out over the gardens, what a way to relax, and headed to a place on the coast called Sakaiminato on the North Coast which is also a fishing port and we visited the market and had a lunch in the only little restaurant on site. Jennifer had the prawn Tempura and said it was possible the best she has ever had. Noel avoided the Tempura to avoid a repetition of what happened when he had the Tempura in Tokyo and went with the Tuna Sushi which was brilliant and Nobu and his wife shared a Crab dish. At Sakaiminato is the famous bridge which looks extremely dangerous to travel over but the angle of the photo creates that impression rather than the actual bridge looking like a roller coaster although come from around to Japan just to driver over it.
After yesterdays extensive walking Noel need a break for the afternoon and so we arrived back at the Hotel around 15.30 for a rest. We were planning to go out for dinner but unfortunately Noel came down a with a mild attack of D- u know what, and decided to spend the evening in the Hotel room for safety reasons. Jennifer was free to join them but insisted that the Tempura and all the associate dishes that came with had filled her so an evening it seems in the room.
This is our last night here and tomorrow we leave for Hiroshima for a couple of nights with a view to exploring more there.
