Geijutsunomori Park

Geijutsunomori (“forest of arts”) Park houses Yamanashi Prefecture’s two principal arts and culture-focused museums within picturesque, sculpture-dotted gardens backgrounded by Mount Fuji.

The Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art was established in 1978 and is located on the west side of the park. It is known as the “Museum of Millet” for its extensive permanent display of works by nineteenth-century French painter Jean-François Millet and the similarly pastoral-focused Barbizon School. Though far from their place of creation, these works feel very much at home in a gallery amidst Yamanashi’s own unspoiled countryside.

Modern art from Japan is the other element of the museum’s permanent collection. These works encompass Japanese-style nihonga, woodblock prints, and Western-style oil paintings by Japanese artists, with the featured artists including a number of painters associated with Yamanashi. The permanent collection exceeds 10,000 pieces, and select works from it form four compelling exhibitions each year.

On the park’s east side is the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Literature, opened in 1989 with the aim of contributing to cultural development through the research of Japanese literature. Here you will find fascinating displays on the lives and works of Japan’s preeminent authors, including a considerable number—Osamu Dazai among them—with connections to Yamanashi. The museum’s most prized collection focuses on Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the author of Rashomon.

The six-hectare park itself applies an inspired creativity to its blend of Japanese and Western influences, and features both classic and boldly modern sculptures from artists including Henry Moore.