Hakone Museum of Art

What makes it special

The moss garden, Shinsenkyo, is what the museum is known for. More than 130 kinds of moss cover the ground, one of the most varied moss collections in Japan, and narrow stone paths weave through it. The plot slants and narrows because it sits on lava from an eruption of nearby Mount Soun, tens of thousands of years ago.

If you come after the maples peak, the fallen leaves still lie red across the moss.

Indoors, the galleries show mainly Japanese ceramics, from prehistoric pieces through the Edo Period. Look for the porcelains of the 10th to 12th centuries and the ceramics of the 16th to 18th, the two groups the museum itself picks out.

Visiting

Shinsenkyo, the moss garden, is the part to give most of your time. Follow the stone paths up the slope, and stay on the stones.

In a corner of the garden, Shinwatei serves matcha with a seasonal sweet and looks out over the whole of the moss. The tea carries a small fee.

The ceramics galleries can come before or after the garden, and they take less time. Sekirakuen, a landscape garden on the slope with large decorative stones, also belongs to the grounds; ask at the entrance whether it is open.

Tips

Show your Hakone Freepass at the ticket desk for a discount. For green moss rather than red leaves, come in the June and July rainy season.

Get off at Koenkami on the way up and see the garden before you carry on to Sounzan.