Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan and its landscape of sculpture

Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan in Hakone, Japan, is an open-air museum of modern and contemporary sculpture set into the foothills of the Hakone mountains and opened in 1969 as Japan’s first outdoor sculpture museum.Japan's first open-air museum The museum occupies an expansive garden where works by international artists stand against views of wooded slopes and the wider Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.

Art in the open: sculpture across Hakone’s hills

The core of Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan is its sculpture park, a garden area of around 70,000 m² where paths wind between lawns, terraces and planted slopes dotted with large-scale works.a garden area of 70,000 m² Sculptures by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore and Joan Miró stand in the open, their forms outlined against the changing sky and the surrounding mountains.modern sculptors such as Rodin and Henry Moore

The garden paths bring visitors close to works placed on grass, beside low hedges or near small water features, so the art appears embedded in the terrain rather than separated from it by formal plinths and fences.masterpieces by modern and contemporary artists The setting within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park means that views from the museum grounds often take in wooded hillsides and distant peaks, making the sculptures part of a broader landscape scene.Hakone is located in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park

From 1969 to a diverse collection of modern art

Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan was established by the Fujisankei Communications Group and opened to the public in 1969, when sculpture was increasingly moving into outdoor settings.opened the Hakone Open-Air Museum in 1969 The museum’s founder and first director, Nobutaka Shikanai, worked with sculptor Bukichi Inoue, who was commissioned to design the museum and its grounds as a place where families could encounter sculpture in a relaxed environment.sculptor Bukichi Inoue was commissioned to design the museum

The museum’s collection focuses on modern and contemporary sculpture, complemented by paintings mainly from the 1970s onwards and now numbers over 2,000 works.collection focuses on modern and contemporary sculpture Permanent exhibits on the grounds and in indoor galleries include works by Rodin, Bourdelle, Moore, Brancusi and Giacometti, among others, tracing the development of sculpture from the modern period to the late twentieth century.permanent exhibits by Rodin, Bourdelle, Moore and others

Picasso, Henry Moore and playful structures

Within the grounds, Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan dedicates a substantial area to Pablo Picasso, with a pavilion that shows ceramics, paintings, sculpture and other works from one of the largest Picasso collections in Japan.over 300 works by Pablo Picasso Nearby, the landscape holds a rotating group of works by Henry Moore, arranged in open grassland so his abstract figures can be seen from multiple angles against the slopes.one of the world’s largest collections of Henry Moore

The museum also incorporates playful structures that invite exploration, including the Symphonic Sculpture by Gabriel Loire, an enclosed tower lined with coloured glass panels and fitted with a staircase so visitors can move through shifting colour as they ascend.Symphonic Sculpture by Gabriel Loire Elsewhere on the grounds, features such as a forest footbath bring the surrounding woodland into the visit, linking art with simple outdoor relaxation.Forest footbath within the Hakone forest

Visiting Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan stands in the Ninotaira area of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture, with the address listed as Ninotaira 1121, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun.
• The museum grounds form a garden on sloping terrain, with outdoor paths, grassed areas and staircases inside structures such as the Symphonic Sculpture tower.
• The site lies within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, so the outdoor areas are surrounded by natural forest and mountain scenery.
• The official language is Japanese and the currency is the yen.
• Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.

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Frequently asked questions about Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan

Where is Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan located?

Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan is in Ninotaira, a district of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture in the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.

What should visitors expect on a visit?

A visit centres on walking through outdoor sculpture gardens on sloping terrain, alongside indoor galleries such as the Picasso Pavilion and family-friendly structures.

What makes Hakone Chokoku no Mori Bijutsukan distinctive?

The museum combines a large collection of modern sculpture, including major works by Picasso and Henry Moore, with a landscape setting in the Hakone mountains.

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