Naoshima: The Seto Inland Sea Island Where the Museums Hide Underground

Updated October 15, 2026 | By Tokyo Paul

Step off the ferry at Miyanoura port on Naoshima and the first thing you meet is a giant red pumpkin, its surface cut with holes and a doorway you can step through. It is the work of Yayoi Kusama, and it has become the island's unofficial welcome mat. The pumpkin is only the opening line, though. Naoshima is a small island in the Seto Inland Sea, part of Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku, with about 3,000 residents and an area of roughly 14 square kilometers (5.5 square miles). Somehow it holds some of the most admired contemporary art and architecture in Japan.

The back story is unexpected. Through much of the twentieth century Naoshima was an industrial island, and Mitsubishi began large-scale refining there in 1917. The population slid from 6,007 in 1970 to around 3,000 today. The turning point was a meeting in 1985 between Tetsuhiko Fukutake, founder of the Okayama publishing company that became Benesse, and the town's mayor, Chikatsugu Miyake. They shared a vision for the island, and over the following decades that vision grew into museums, restored village houses and island-wide projects, known together as Benesse Art Site Naoshima.

Benesse House: A Museum and Hotel by the Sea

The first major piece arrived in July 1992, when Benesse House Museum opened on a hillside above the water. Designed by the architect Tadao Ando, it combines a gallery and a hotel, so guests can sleep in the same building that holds the art. The works do not stay indoors. Sculptures and installations stand on the beach, among the rocks and along the shoreline, and visitors wander between them. A second building, the Oval, followed in July 1995, and a park and beach area opened in 2006.

Kusama's Yellow Pumpkin has stood on a pier near this stretch of coast since 1994 and became the island's trademark. In August 2021 a powerful typhoon swept the fiberglass-reinforced plastic sculpture into the sea, where it cracked in several places before islanders pulled it out. A replacement was unveiled on the morning of 4 October 2022. It matches the original's shape but has a tougher structure meant to withstand extreme weather. Photo queues can form at the pier, so early morning or late afternoon gives you the best chance of a quiet moment with it.

Chichu Art Museum, Where the Ceiling Is the Sky

Chichu means in the earth, and the name is literal. Opened in July 2004 and also designed by Tadao Ando, the Chichu Art Museum is built mostly underground so that it does not disturb the natural scenery of the Seto Inland Sea. Daylight still reaches the galleries, and it changes how the art looks through the day and across the seasons. The permanent collection centers on three artists, and each has a space made for the work: Claude Monet, James Turrell and Walter De Maria.

Five of Monet's Water Lilies paintings share a single room lit by natural light, a very different experience from seeing them under museum spotlights. Turrell's three works include Open Sky (2004), a chamber with an opening in the ceiling where the sky itself becomes the artwork. De Maria's space holds a sphere 2.2 meters across and 27 gilded wooden forms. Tickets are sold for a set date and time, and if the online slots sell out there are no same-day sales. Photography and sketching are not allowed inside, which encourages you to simply look.

Honmura and the Houses That Became Artworks

On the east side of the island, the old settlement of Honmura holds the Art House Project, which began in March 1998. Instead of building new galleries, artists took over empty houses, a former dental clinic and other village buildings and turned them into installations. Seven sites are open today. A common ticket for five of them costs around 1,200 yen online (about 8 USD), while two sites, including Minamidera, need their own timed tickets at about 600 yen online. Minamidera is a dark chamber designed by Ando to hold a work by James Turrell, and it rewards the extra planning.

What makes Honmura special is that the art sits among ordinary life. Residents still live along these lanes, so a visit feels like walking through a village that happens to contain artworks, not like entering a gallery district. Walk slowly, keep your voice down and remember that you are in a neighborhood. The ANDO MUSEUM, which opened in March 2013, tells the architect's story inside an old wooden house, and it costs roughly 600 yen online. Island buses cost 100 yen per ride, and a few cafes and restaurants around Honmura make it an easy place to stop for lunch.

A Public Bath, a Quiet Museum and the Hills Between

Naoshima Bath, nicknamed I Love Yu, is a working public bathhouse near the port that opened in July 2009. Yu is the Japanese word for hot water, so the name is a pun, and the building itself is a piece of art you can soak in. Admission is around 660 yen, and opening hours run roughly from 13:00 to 21:00. Locals and visitors share the baths, so the usual rule applies: wash thoroughly before you enter the water.

The Lee Ufan Museum opened in June 2010, another Ando building, set into a valley facing the sea and devoted to the Korea-born artist Lee Ufan, whose work pairs stone, steel and open space. The island has slopes, so many visitors rent bicycles, and electric-assist models help on the hills. Bicycles cannot enter some sections around Benesse House, so check the rules where you park. Most people find that two to three major sites per half day is plenty, because the walks between them are part of the pleasure.

Teshima, Inujima and the Triennale

Naoshima is the best known of several art islands in the region. The Teshima Art Museum, which opened in October 2010, is a concrete shell shaped like a water droplet at the moment it lands. It has no pillars, covers a space of about 40 by 60 meters, and has two oval openings that let in wind, sound and light. Water springs from the floor inside. Architect Ryue Nishizawa designed it together with the artist Rei Naito, and admission is around 1,800 yen online, booked for a set time. The Inujima Seirensho Art Museum, which opened in April 2008, occupies a former refinery on a small island nearby.

These islands also take part in the Setouchi Triennale, an art festival first held in 2010 and repeated every three years. It spreads across a dozen islands and two port cities, Takamatsu and Uno, with sessions in spring, summer and autumn. If the three-year rhythm holds, the next edition would fall in 2028, though you should confirm dates on the festival's official site. During festival seasons ferries and rooms fill quickly, so book early. Outside those seasons the permanent museums still run, and the islands feel noticeably calmer.

Getting to Naoshima by Ferry

Two main ports serve the island. From Uno port the ferry to Miyanoura takes about 20 minutes and costs around 370 yen for an adult. Uno is reached by local train from Okayama, which sits on the Sanyo Shinkansen line, in roughly an hour. From Takamatsu port on Shikoku, a regular ferry takes about 50 minutes at around 680 yen, while a high-speed passenger boat takes about 30 minutes at around 1,590 yen. Both routes are run by Shikoku Kisen, and fares and timetables can change, so check before you travel.

Once on the island, a town bus runs from Miyanoura through Honmura to Tsutsuji-so, where you can transfer to a free shuttle serving the museum area. Coin lockers and luggage storage near the ports let you leave bags while you explore. Remember that Chichu Art Museum, the ANDO MUSEUM and the public bath are closed on Mondays, and if a Monday is a national holiday they close the following day instead. Plan your route around those closures and you avoid the most common disappointment.

Plan Your Visit

Book the Chichu Art Museum first, because its timed tickets are the hardest to get, then build the rest of the day around that slot. One day lets you see the headline sites, but staying overnight lets you experience the island after the day-trippers leave and the last ferries have gone, when the shoreline turns quiet and the light over the water changes. Bring cash for small purchases, wear comfortable shoes, and check the Benesse Art Site Naoshima official pages for current hours, fees and closures before you go.