Continuing with what I covered last time, I would like to introduce a great Japanese-style garden and train in Shimane Prefecture today.
After spending a night on Sunrise Express, I got off the train at Yasugi station on the San-in main line next morning. My destination was Adachi Museum of Art in Yasugi City of Shimane Prefecture. This museum was founded by Adachi Zenko, who was a businessman born in the city. The museum realizes the artful juxtaposition of modern Japanese-style paintings inside and traditional gardens outside. These gardens are ranked as Number One among the Japanese-style gardens according to “The Journal of Japanese Gardening” published in the USA.
After enjoying the paintings and gardens, I took a local line, Ichibata Electric Railway, and headed to Izumotaisha-mae. On the way, I came across an orange-colored train, Set 2104 of the EMU 2100 series, at Kawato station. This nostalgic train was moved from Keio Electric Railway in 1995. The former name was the EMU Keio 5000 series, which was a reputable commuter train in the 1960s through the 1990s. It was the winner of Japan Railfan Club's 1964 Laurel Prize as the most outstanding technical and designed train which debuted in the previous year. Its curved front windows and double rounded front lights of this over 50-year-old train was nostalgic, but still very cool. Incidentally, the body color of Set 2104 was taken from Ichibata’s old baggage car, named DeHaNi 50 series.
To be continued more...
