[3] The museum is located next to the Yushimatenmangu Shrine, a branch of Yushima Tenman-gū which was founded in 458 in Bunkyō in Tokyo.

The museum includes a Japanese garden by Mirei Shigemori, a notable 20th century modern landscape architect, that was completed in 1965.

[4] In addition to the museum in Wakaho, there is an annex, the Kitano Cultural Center, which is located in downtown Nagano on Chuo Dori near the Gocho Campus of the University of Nagano and Zenkō-ji Temple; and the Togakushi Branch Museum of Kitano Museum of Art, which is located in the mountainous Togakushi district of Nagano City near the entrance to Togakushi Shrine.

[6] Its collection of more than 600 pieces of art includes work by both Japanese and western artists.

By car, the museum is approximately 8 minutes from the Suzaka/Nagano Higashi IC, on the Jōshin-etsu Expressway.