14 May 2024

Enthralled by Sakaiminato

After a morning of entertaining lectures travelling from South Korea, we arrived in Sakaiminato, Japan.

Welcomed by the cruise team at Sakaiminato, we boarded a ‘Zodiac on wheels’ to visit one of the two lagoons of the region and through the fertile countryside to arrive at the Adachi Garden and Museum of Art. Founded in 1978, Adachi is a garden and art gallery of international renown. The garden ‘borrows’ the landscape of the surrounding hills to complement the created shapes within the garden. The waterfalls and mounds of the garden were designed to be viewed through the gallery's windows, and each garden zone is manicured to perfection by a team of gardeners.

Next, we visited the Rosanjin Gallery with its fantastic collection of pottery featuring styles, colours and areas represented from Bizen to Oribe. The significant art collection housed works by Yokoyama Taikan, a core member of the modern Japanese art world in the 20th century. His work often symbolized Japan such as Mt Fuji and the morning sun.

The stunning Yuushien Garden on Daikonshima Island was our next destination. This large garden is celebrated for its colourful peony flowers and the street vendors had some on display along with the spectacle in the greenhouse. We explored the pathways and walked along the iconic central red bridge, the moss-covered banks, the dry rock spaces, and the central pond area of this exquisite garden. Beautiful all year round, but it was a pleasure to visit in the late afternoon light.

Our return to the port took us over the bridge with the optical illusion of rising straight up into the sky before we arrived back at Heritage Adventurer. Local artisans had work on display with kimonos proving a popular purchase. And so, our visit ashore ended as the local community entertained us with dance, much to everyone’s delight. Thank you Sakaiminato.

Images © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions