A Museum Drawn by the Man Who Filled It
The Main Building of the Hakone Museum of Art (箱根美術館本館, Hakone Bijutsukan Honkan) is a three-storey gallery in Gora, Hakone Town, Kanagawa Prefecture, completed in 1952 and entered in Japan's national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 6 March 2024. It occupies the north-western corner of Shinsenkyo (神仙郷), the garden complex that surrounds it, and faces east across the slope.
The structure combines reinforced concrete with concrete block, covering a footprint of 431 square metres. Hollow concrete blocks were set into the floor slabs, a material choice that says a good deal about 1952: cement was scarce, the country was six years out of the war, and lightweight fill made the spans possible. The entrance and stair hall sit at the centre, with two-storey exhibition rooms running north and south from it. Above them rises a third-floor tower capped by a hipped roof whose ridge line curves gently upward, finished in blue tiles.
Okada Mokichi (岡田茂吉, 1882–1955) designed it. Not an architect by training, he specified the building, its interiors, and by the museum's own account the display cases as well. Volunteers drawn from across the country did much of the physical work, and the museum opened in June 1952, roughly eight months after ground was broken.
What the Register Recognised
Japan's registration system for Tangible Cultural Properties, introduced in 1996, sits below the older designation categories of National Treasure and Important Cultural Property. It is lighter in its obligations and correspondingly broader in reach, and it was built to catch exactly the kind of building that the designation system tends to miss: modern structures, working buildings, things fifty years old rather than five hundred.
The Main Building was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historical landscape of the country, receiving registration number 14-0345. Its two companions went on the register the same day, the annex as 14-0346 and the rest house as 14-0347. Reading the three entries together makes the logic plain. The Agency for Cultural Affairs was not registering three separate buildings so much as recognising a single composed scene.
That scene had already been recognised once. On 26 March 2021 Shinsenkyo itself was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty (名勝, meisho), the category Japan reserves for landscapes of exceptional aesthetic and scholarly value. Okada laid the garden out between 1944 and 1953, directing the placement of boulders, streams, paths, and plantings himself, working with the Gora gardener Katsumata Yoshitaro and with volunteer labour. The museum went up inside a landscape that was already taking shape around it.
Okada's stated reason for building at all was that fine art should not stay locked in private hands. The years after 1945 saw a great deal of Japanese art leave the country, and his collecting, which later formed the core of the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, ran against that current. The Hakone building now shows Japanese ceramics: Jomon-period earthenware, jars and urns from the medieval Six Ancient Kilns, and Edo-period work, with small thematic exhibitions rotating through.
Looking at the Building Itself
The exterior reads as Chinese before it reads as Japanese. Pale walls, blue roof tiles, an upward flick at the ends of the ridge. The choice was deliberate and it was made to suit the collection rather than the setting, though the setting was then adjusted to agree with it: the bamboo garden completed in 1951, running along the path and steps between here and the annex, was planted with moso bamboo specifically to carry that same continental note across the ground between the two buildings.
Stand in the second-floor lobby and the reason for the large windows becomes obvious. The garden lies below, the outer ring of the Hakone caldera stands beyond it, and the glazing frames both. On the third floor a Japanese-style room with a tokonoma alcove was set aside for guests of honour, an arrangement that put the view and the ceramics in the same room.
Two rounds of alteration have left their mark, one in 1981 and another in 1995, and a third is under way now.
Practical matters, because they currently govern any visit. The museum closed completely on 7 May 2026 for renovation and is scheduled to remain shut until 29 October. Reopening is staged: the rest house and the annex are slated for 30 October 2026, while the renovated Main Building galleries are announced for 23 December 2026. Anyone planning a trip before the new year should confirm directly with the museum. Under normal operation the museum opens 9:30 to 16:30 from April through November and 9:30 to 16:00 from December through March, with last admission thirty minutes before closing, and closes on Thursdays except when a Thursday falls on a public holiday. Admission before the closure was 1,430 yen for adults and 660 yen for high school and university students, free for junior high school students and younger. Photography without flash is permitted, though tripods, monopods, and selfie sticks are not; pencil sketching is allowed. The site is not barrier-free, with stairs at the Main Building entrance and no lift. Parking is free, open 9:00 to 17:00.
Getting there takes about an hour from JR Odawara Station: the Hakone Tozan Railway to Gora, then the cable car one stop to Koen-kami, and the entrance is a short walk from there.
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Q&A
- Can I visit the Hakone Museum of Art Main Building right now?
- No. The museum closed on 7 May 2026 for renovation work and the announced reopening for the Main Building galleries is 23 December 2026. The rest house and annex are scheduled to open earlier, on 30 October 2026. Check the museum website before travelling, since staged reopening dates can shift.
- Who designed the Hakone Museum of Art Main Building?
- Okada Mokichi (1882–1955), the museum's founder, who had no formal architectural training. According to the museum, his specifications covered the building, the interiors, and the display cases. Volunteers from around Japan carried out much of the construction, which took roughly eight months.
- Why does the Hakone Museum of Art Main Building look Chinese?
- The pale walls, blue roof tiles, and upturned ridge were chosen to suit the ceramics inside rather than to blend with the Hakone hillside. The bamboo garden planted alongside it in 1951 extends the same continental character into the grounds.
- Is the Hakone Museum of Art Main Building a National Treasure?
- No. It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, a lighter-touch category established in 1996 for buildings that contribute to the country's historical landscape. It was registered on 6 March 2024 under number 14-0345, alongside the annex and the rest house.
- Can I photograph inside the Hakone Museum of Art Main Building?
- Handheld photography without flash is permitted. Tripods, monopods, and selfie sticks are not allowed, and commercial photography requires advance application and a fee. Pencil and conté sketching is fine; ink, brushes, paints, and easels are not.
- What is Shinsenkyo, the garden around the Hakone Museum of Art?
- Shinsenkyo is the garden complex Okada Mokichi created in Gora between 1944 and 1953, taking in a moss garden, a rock garden called Sekiraku-en, a bamboo garden, and several teahouses. It was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty on 26 March 2021.
Basic Information
| Name | Hakone Museum of Art Main Building (箱根美術館本館) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1300-85 Gora, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); registration number 14-0345 |
| Year Designated | 6 March 2024 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Reinforced concrete and concrete block, three storeys, tiled roof; building area 431 m² |
| Owner | Mokichi Okada Association for Art and Culture |
| Public Access | Normally open as a museum gallery; closed for renovation 7 May to 29 October 2026, with Main Building galleries scheduled to reopen 23 December 2026 |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Hakone Museum of Art Main Building
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00014777
- Cultural Heritage Online — Hakone Museum of Art Main Building
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/564655
- Hakone Shinsenkyo — official site
- https://shinsenkyo.jp/
- Hakone Museum of Art — Galleries (Main Building and Annex)
- https://moaart.or.jp/hakone/map/tenji/
- Hakone Museum of Art — Hours and Admission
- https://moaart.or.jp/hakone/guide/
Last verified: 2026.08.03