Hakone Museum of Art Reopens October 30; Pre-Opening with the Annex and Café, Main Building Galleries from December 23

The Hakone Museum of Art (Gora, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture) ended its full closure for renovation work and held a pre-opening on Friday, October 30, 2026. It begins by opening a café newly set up in the rest house and the galleries in the annex, and from December 23 the renovated galleries in the main building open. The museum had been fully closed since May 7. The renovation addresses the aging of the buildings and their preservation and use as cultural properties.

When does it reopen? The pre-opening and December 23

According to the museum’s notice, from October 30 the newly established café in the rest house opened and the museum pre-opened with the annex galleries. The main building galleries open on December 23, a date the ticket page describes as the “grand opening.”

Online tickets for the pre-opening went on sale at 10:00 on Thursday, October 1. The museum says it will announce tickets from the grand opening onward once they are decided. Prices and exhibition details from December 23 had not been announced as of October 19.

About 70 years after opening, renovating a museum within the Place of Scenic Beauty “Shinsenkyo”

The Hakone Museum of Art was founded in 1952 by Mokichi Okada (1882–1955), who in the same year established the Tomei Art Preservation Society (now the Mokichi Okada Foundation for the Fine Arts and Culture). The museum describes itself as the oldest museum in Hakone. The annex was completed the following year, 1953.

The garden in which the museum stands, “Shinsenkyo,” was created by Okada from 1944 to 1953 and was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty on March 26, 2021. The garden contains buildings such as Shinzanso (the former villa of Raita Fujiyama), Kanzantei, Nikkoden, and the museum’s main building and annex.

According to the closure notice, the buildings were registered as national Tangible Cultural Properties in 2021. The work can be seen as a renovation to keep using the buildings, some 70 years after the museum opened, as cultural properties. An Instagram post featured on the official website reports that the walls have been restored to the white of the museum’s opening days.

What can be seen? From Jomon pottery to the ceramics of the Six Ancient Kilns

The museum’s collection centers on Japanese ceramics, from Jomon-period earthenware through jars and pots made at the Six Ancient Kilns in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods to the Edo period.

The exhibits page of the official website lists items such as a Jomon flame-style deep bowl, a haniwa rabbit and a Sue ware bottle in the shape of a leather bag. A large Echizen jar inscribed “29th day of the 9th month, Genko 3” and a Bizen sake bottle with hidasuki (fire-cord) markings are also featured. The museum plans to change the exhibits for the reopening on December 23.

In 1982, its sister museum, the MOA Museum of Art, opened in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture. From Saturday, January 9 to Wednesday, February 24, 2027, it will hold a masterpieces exhibition featuring Ogata Korin’s National Treasure “Red and White Plum Blossoms” screens and other works.

Moss garden, tea room and a new café & bakery

Shinsenkyo’s moss garden has about 130 species of moss and 220 maple trees, and in autumn the contrast between the green moss and the autumn leaves is a highlight. The official Instagram shows the autumn colors advancing in the garden ahead of the pre-opening.

At the tea room “Shinwatei,” visitors can enjoy seasonal sweets and matcha grown with MOA natural farming methods at table seating while viewing the moss garden. According to the facility guide, a bowl costs 800 yen and the tea room is open 10:00–15:30, with irregular closures or private bookings on some days. On October 30, the “Hakone Museum of Art Café & Bakery” opens; the official Instagram introduces items such as a cream bun made with free-range eggs from Aichi Prefecture.

Tickets, prices and access

Admission with pre-opening tickets is 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for high school and university students, and free for junior high school students and younger and people with disabilities. Tickets can be purchased online via “Buy Tickets” on the official website, and group rates are available only at the ticket counter.

Opening hours are 9:30–16:30 from April to November and 9:30–16:00 from December to March (last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Thursdays (open if a national holiday), over the year-end and New Year holidays and on exhibition changeover days. It is about an hour by train from JR Odawara Station, and there is a free parking lot (9:00–17:00).

Editor’s perspective

The exhibits in the main building and prices after the grand opening have not yet been announced, so it is worth checking for updates ahead of December 23. In Hakone, “New Eyes: Monet and 21st-Century Art” at the POLA Museum of Art is also on view until April 7, 2027. Schedules around the country are gathered in our guide to museum closures and reopenings.

Overview

Name: Hakone Museum of Art
Pre-opening: From Friday, October 30, 2026 (annex galleries, café)
Main building galleries: From December 23, 2026 (grand opening)
Hours: April–November 9:30–16:30 (last entry 16:00), December–March 9:30–16:00 (last entry 15:30)
Closed: Thursdays (open if a national holiday), year-end and New Year holidays, exhibition changeover days
Address: 1300 Gora, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture
Admission: Adults 1,000 yen, high school and university students 500 yen, junior high school students and younger and people with disabilities free (pre-opening tickets; prices after the grand opening not yet announced)
Access: About an hour by train from JR Odawara Station. Parking available (free, 9:00–17:00)
Official website: https://www.moaart.or.jp/hakone/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Moss garden at the Hakone Museum of Art, November 2019 (photo: Big Ben in Japan from Kawasaki, CC BY-SA 2.0, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Hakone Museum of Art (January 19 and October 1, 2026) and information on its official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team