Kirishima Open-Air Museum

Kirishima Open-Air Museum spreads across a plateau about 700 meters above sea level, at the foot of Mt. Kurinodake in the Kirishima mountains. Kagoshima Prefecture was the project owner, and the park opened on October 12, 2000. The site is in Yusui Town, which corresponds to the former town of Kurino. It was developed to make the most of the natural terrain and woodland, and contemporary sculptures are scattered across its hills and forest. It is run by the Kagoshima Prefectural Cultural Promotion Foundation as the designated manager.

Many of the works were made by Japanese and international artists who visited the site and drew on its nature, history and culture. The official website lists Yayoi Kusama, Dani Karavan, Antony Gormley, Choi Jeong Hwa, Isamu Wakabayashi and Jonathan Borofsky, and the collection also includes Ulrich Rueckriem, Dan Graham, Keiji Uematsu, Noboru Tsubaki and Hiroshi Fuji. Kusama's "Flowers of Shangri-La" is one of the works in the park.

The museum was designed by the architect Kunihiko Hayakawa. The park has an Art Hall that houses exhibition rooms, a multipurpose space, a cafeteria, a museum shop and the management office. Two ways of enjoying art, outdoors among the permanent works and indoors in the exhibitions, are gathered in one facility.

The official website introduces programs for individuals and groups. For individuals there are guided tours of the grounds, a mission challenge, an exploration quiz, exploration sketching and a paid discovery workshop; for groups there are guidance sessions, an appreciation room, gallery talks, an outdoor-works photo rally, a quiz rally, an art workshop, a sketching program and art cards. Besides simply looking at the works, visitors can walk with a guide or a set of questions. An annual passport is also available.

Getting there is easiest by car: the museum is about 12 km, or roughly 20 minutes, from the Kurino Interchange on the Kyushu Expressway, and the stretch from Kagoshima-Kita IC to Kurino IC is about 56 km, around 40 minutes. There is parking for 197 regular cars, 6 large vehicles, 5 disabled-access spaces and 5 motorcycles. By public transport, it takes about 90 minutes from JR Kagoshima-Chuo Station to JR Kurino Station on the Nippo Line and Hisatsu Line, changing at Hayato Station, and from there about 20 minutes by the Yusui Town "Furusato" bus (Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only) or by taxi.