10 places for plum blossoms in Saitama

Looking for somewhere to view Plum Blossoms in Saitama Prefecture? We’ve got you covered with 10 of the best places to see plum blossoms. Also, we have plum blossoms that bloom from as early as mid January until as late as late March (in 2022) in this selection:

Plum Blossoms in Saitama

Each place is hyperlinked with a short cut – if you click the name of the place it will jump to the information about that plum blossom grove:

1. Ogose Bairin
2. Chichibu Muse Park
3. Omiya Dai ni Park
4. Koshigaya Plum Park
5. Shinrin Park
6. Kawaguchi Green Center
7. Hodosan
8. Omiya Hana no Oka
9. Sakitama Kofun Park
10. Kodai Hasu no Sato

The featured photo is from Honjo Park, but it is not on the 2022 list as I only visited after I published this post. (I just updated the photo for this post, March 8th 2022). Honjo Park will replace number 9 on the list, Sakitama Kofun Park, in the 2023 list! I also want to mention that another place that I would like to fit on this list is Fukaya Green Kingdom‘s plum blossom grove! I visited Fukaya Green Kingdom on March 4th and the plum blossoms were still only at about 50% so you should be able to see them in their full glory around mid March.

1. Ogose Bairin

You can’t mention plum blossoms in Saitama without mentioning the crème de la crème! Ogose Bairin is not just one of the largest in Saitama but it is one of the three great plum blossom groves of Kanto. It has more than 1000 trees, but in the general Ogose area there are about ten times that amount of plum blossoms. Plum blossom viewing is generally from mid February to mid March in Ogose. Every year Ogose Bairin have a large plum blossom festival at the grove. It is even scheduled for 2022. During the period of the festival there is a mini train that goes through the plum blossoms on weekends. In addition, they have live music performances.

2. Chichibu Muse Park

Approximately 600 plum blossoms of 15 different varieties grow in the plum blossom grove of Chichibu Muse Park. Chichibu Muse Park is a great park for families as there is lots to do with kids. For example, apart from a free playground, there are several activities you can pay for. Such as, renting bicycles including tandem bikes, play in a small arcade or on trampolines or in the trees at their treetop athletic playground! There are battery cars, a park train and for older children, a shooting game. See the full line up here.

3. Omiya Dai Ni Park

Omiya Dai Ni Park is close to Omiya park, which is famous for its cherry blossoms. Its actually one of Japan’s 100 Best Cherry Blossom viewing spots. Meanwhile, although not nationally famous, Dai Ni Park, is renowned locally for its plum blossom grove. There are approximately 500 plum blossom trees, of 40 different varieties, in the park. Best viewing is generally from the end of February to early March.

4. Koshigaya Plum Park

There are approximately 300 plum blossom trees in the Koshigaya Plum Park. They generally bloom from mid February to mid March, with best viewing in early March. They normally have a festival for one weekend during early March. At the festival they have live entertainment, events and festival stalls. However, the festival has not yet been confirmed for 2022.

5. Shinrin Park

Shinrin Park, aka Musashi Kyuryo National Government Park, in Namegawa Town has about 500 plum blossom trees. Moreover, there are a whopping 120 different varieties. Including 20 that bloom as early as mid January. They also have late blooming varieties. With the result, you can see plum blossoms in Shinrin Park from mid January right up to mid March. You can usually see a few wintersweet in bloom at the same time in the grove.

6. Kawaguchi

The Saitama Prefecture Flowers and Greenery Promotion Center in Kawaguchi has around 250 plum blossoms. The center serves to provide guidance on the production and shipment of plants and tree saplings, particularly of bonsai, for export. In all, the center has about 2000 plants and ornamental trees. The plum blossoms start to bloom late January, but it is not until the end of February (to mid March) that they are in full bloom.

7. Hodosan

On the top of Hodosan (Mt Hodo), in Chichibu, there is both a plum blossom and wintersweet grove. Until this year, 2022, they had two different flower festivals in winter: a wintersweet festival first, followed by a plum blossom festival. But from 2022 they have merged the two into a “Winter Flower Story” event. Hodosan is always a lovely place to visit, but the area is particularly picturesque, not to mention deliciously scented, when the tree blossoms are in bloom. The 2022 Nagatoro Winter Flower Story festival will start on January 29th (all things equal).

8. Omiya Hana no Oka

Omiya Hana no Oka is a medium sized park in Saitama City. It has some beautiful flowers all year round. The plum blossoms in the park can blossom from as early as January, but February is generally the best time to see them. This park does not have a plum blossom festival. There are plum blossoms are on the North end of the park on a picturesque semicircular flower road, as well as some on the East side. There are approximately 70 plum blossom trees in total.

9.Sakitama Kofun Park

There aren’t a large number of plum blossoms at Sakitama, the old name for Saitama Prefecture. Sakitama Kofun Park’s plum blossoms are particularly picturesque though. They are located around the perimeter of an old thatched roof house on the vast grounds of the park. They typically bloom around the end of February to early March.

10. Kodai Hasu no Sato

A short drive from Sakitama Kofun Park you can see even more plum blossoms at the Kodai Hasu no Sato Park. Also, in Gyoda, you may recognize the name – it is a park famous for both lotus flowers (summer) and rice field art (autumn). The park has also recently become well known for its plum blossoms in Saitama Prefecture. Although young, thus currently still small, the plum blossoms hold great promise as they will continue grow over the coming years. There are approximately 200 plum blossom trees in Kodai Hasu no Sato. The park tweeted just as I was writing this post, 2.15 pm January 18th 2022, to say the plum blossoms have opened!

This is not an exhaustive list – there are plenty more places you can see plum blossoms in Saitama Prefecture. There are also places with weeping plum blossoms, such as Saimyouji in Kawagoe or Saikoji in Sakado. Have you been to any of these locations for plum blossoms? What did you think? Are there any other places you think deserve a place on this top ten places to see plum blossoms in Saitama Prefecture list!?