Adachi Museum

Next morning I changed my choreographed schedule. Hideki had so kindly offered to take time off in the afternoon and show me around Matsue. Instead of setting out for Izumo I took the train to nearby Yasuigi and went by shuttlebus to the Adachi Museum of Art, a must-see for anybody who is interested in Japanese gardens. Set in an expansive natural environment, the beauty of the various types of gardens was stunning. Most of it can only be viewed from the museum building, but a path leads you to a teahouse, through a mossy garden and bamboo grove. I loved the Pond Garden with the foliage of its trees beginning to show autumn colours, but I was most impressed by the „living picture “ , where a dark tree together with the window frames the dry landscape garden. I would like to be able to see the gardens different characters depending on the season, especially in winter when the black and white reduces everything to basics.
In addition to the gardens, the Adachi Museum of Art also houses a collection of nearly 1,300 of the country's most highly regarded contemporary paintings centering on the works of Yokoyama Taikan.
And then the most unexpected happened:
I can not recall how we met, but traveling back at the end of my visit to the Adachi Museum I found myself deeply in conversation with a Japanese lady 2 years my senior. Within the short time we had together we became very close and I feel I struck up a friendship for life with Keiko, a musician and master of tea ceremony.
This can only happen in the Province of Gods as Shimane, or Izumo of old, is called. Think of it, I had to travel half the globe, to change my plans and be on the prerdestined spot at the predestined time – to meet a friend…