The U.S. magazine Journal of Japanese Gardening has picked the Adachi Museum of Art garden in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, as the best Japanese garden for the ninth consecutive year.
The 165,000-sq.-meter site housing traditional moss and dry gardens has been selected as 2011's finest Japanese garden, with specific mention given to intensive grooming, maintenance efforts and staff attitude.
"Gardens are living and we cannot be at ease even for a moment. We will continue promoting Japanese culture through the garden, devoting our love to every single plant and grass," Takanori Adachi, director of the museum, said Tuesday.
Katsura Rikyu garden in Kyoto was picked second and Ritsurin Park garden in Kagawa Prefecture third in the latest rankings after experts visited more than 850 Japanese gardens across the nation.
The magazine, founded in 1998, has published the Japanese garden rankings since 2003.