Cities Hakone Hakone Museum of Art
Hakone Museum of Art
- Museum/Specialty
- Garden/Green Space/Nature
The why: The museum's Japanese ceramics are worth seeing, but the real draw is the spectacular moss garden — 130 varieties of moss under a canopy of maples that produces some of the most vivid autumn color in the Hakone region.
Gotcha / logistics: Closed Thursdays. The moss garden is most spectacular in November (autumn color) and June (lush green after rains). The museum is uphill from Gora — take the cablecar one stop to Koenkami.
The Hakone Museum of Art, located on the slopes above Gora, was founded by Okada Mokichi in 1952. Its sister museum, the MOA Museum of Art, was later built in nearby Atami City on the Izu Peninsula. While the ceramics collection inside is substantive, the museum’s outdoor gardens are what make it a standout destination in Hakone — particularly the moss garden, which is among the most beautiful small gardens in the Kanto region.
The museum displays mainly Japanese ceramics from prehistoric Jomon-period earthenware through the Edo Period (1600-1868). The collection includes a number of large earthenware and ceramic vessels, a haniwa burial statue classified as an Important Cultural Property, and examples of the major Japanese ceramic traditions — Bizen, Shigaraki, Seto, and others. The exhibits are well-curated and uncrowded, offering a quiet complement to Hakone’s more popular outdoor attractions.
The moss garden is the museum’s signature feature. Stone paths wind through dense shade created by mature maple trees, and the ground is carpeted with approximately 130 varieties of moss. The effect is of a luminous green floor that glows in any light. In autumn, when the maple canopy turns brilliant red and orange, the contrast between the fiery leaves above and the emerald moss below is extraordinary — this is widely considered one of the best autumn foliage spots in the Hakone area. Photographers and garden enthusiasts specifically time visits for early to mid-November.
In late spring and summer, the garden takes on a different character: the fresh green of the moss after rain, the humidity creating a sense of primeval forest, and the filtered light through the full canopy make it a meditative space. A teahouse within the garden serves green tea and Japanese sweets for a small fee, providing an excuse to sit still and absorb the setting.
Beyond the moss garden, the museum grounds include the Sekirakuen Garden, a Japanese landscape garden spreading over the Gora slopes. This garden features large decorative stones, a mountain stream, and views over the valley and surrounding mountains. It is less famous than the moss garden but rewards exploration, especially on clear days when distant peaks are visible.
Hours: 9:30-16:30 (until 16:00 December-March). Admission ends 30 minutes before closing. Closed: Thursdays (except national holidays), New Year holidays, and during exhibition changes. Admission: 1430 yen (200 yen discount with Hakone Free Pass). Access: 3-minute walk from Koenkami Station on the Hakone Tozan Cablecar (one stop above Gora), or a 10-minute uphill walk from Gora Station.
More in Hakone
Hakone Ropeway (Sounzan to Togendai)
The aerial gondola from Sounzan over the Owakudani vent field down to Togendai on Lake Ashi — the segment of the loop where Mt. Fuji, the active volcano, and the lake all show up in the same frame. About 30 minutes end-to-end with a stop at Owakudani.
Hakone Shrine & Heiwa no Torii
The forest shrine on Lake Ashi's southern shore, with its red Heiwa no Torii standing in the water — one of the most photographed gates in Japan. The shrine itself dates to the 8th century and was a stop for travelers on the old Tokaido road praying for safe passage over the mountains.
Lake Ashi sightseeing cruise
The pirate-ship ferry across the caldera lake created by the same eruption that built Owakudani. It's a working leg of the Hakone loop, not a sightseeing add-on, and the deck angle on the southbound run gives the cleanest Fuji-over-Ashinoko shot of the trip.
Hakone Open-Air Museum
Japan's first open-air sculpture museum, opened 1969, with monumental works by Henry Moore, Rodin, and Niki de Saint Phalle set against the Hakone mountain backdrop. The Picasso Pavilion holds one of the world's largest collections of his ceramics.
Owakudani volcanic vents
The active steam-vent field that gave Hakone its hot springs in the first place — a treeless, sulfur-yellow caldera floor where the geology stops being theoretical. On clear days Mt. Fuji sits directly behind the vents.
Pola Museum of Art
A largely subterranean museum in the Sengokuhara beech forest, designed by Nikken Sekkei to disappear into the national park. The collection is world-class Impressionism — Monet, Renoir, Picasso — plus a major glass-art holding, all lit by a glass atrium that filters light the way the surrounding canopy does.