Exploring Japan - A Visit to Kosetsu Museum of Art Garden

It's been a while since my last travel post but I'm back with a vengeance! I have returned to Japan and have been exploring quite a bit, so I hope to post up some of my trips here on Steemit for you to enjoy. One that was a real surprise was the Kosetsu Museum of Art in Kobe, an hour or so outside of Osaka. This small museum is in a quiet residential area near Mikage Station, which features lots of quaint bakeries and nice family restaurants. There are also some great shrines in this area to explore, pictures of which I will post at a later date.

The Kosetsu Museum of Art was established in 1972 to house Japanese and Asian antique art works that Murayama Ryohei, the founder of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper company, had amassed over his time as a collector. Prominent in his collection are early modern paintings, as well as tea ceremony utensils, lacquerware and buddhist art works. So on a sunny day I took a walk through the museum and headed to a tour of the garden that can be seen by reservation only.

It was a great experience to walk through the garden and view the small tea house and appreciate the beautiful nature surrounding the museum building. I'm always amazed by the natural beauty of the Japanese garden and how these gardens are so detailed but at the same time feel so natural and untouched. In this garden tea parties are held several times each year to promote a greater understanding of the museum collection and provide an opportunity for the general public to experience traditional Japanese culture.

I hope you like a few of the photos here that I took when exploring the garden. I have many more but I only wanted to showcase a few in the hope that it would inspire you to visit this garden when you're next in Japan. It's a real gem! Enjoy.

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