May is usually the month for open gardens in Saitama, but in Saitama City’s Minuma area you can tour private gardens in both April and May. Two days in each month. In addition, for the April dates you can also see a flower art exhibition in the Minuma branch of Saitama City Hall. I am republishing this on April 18th 2023 to make it more visible for the May event.
Minuma Open Gardens 2023
Each year in April and May, some of the residents of Minuma open their beautiful private gardens to the general public. This is the 9th year the event is on. It was cancelled during the pandemic. For the April open garden event there are 19 different gardens you can explore. For the May event, fourteen households open their garden to the public. Obviously, as they are people’s private gardens there are no toilets, parking or any type of facilities available. Also, it is advised to respect the serenity of the neighborhoods and not to visit in large groups.
Due to the nature of this event, I have not disclosed much information in this post and the aim of the post is just to let people know such an event exists. However, I have provided links to all the official material for the event, which is quite visual so even if you don’t read Japanese you can follow it, hopefully! Please just be careful of the dates that the garden/s you wish to visit are open – some are open both in April and May, but some are only open in either April OR May.
Information
Event: Minuma Open Garden 2023 第9回見沼区オープンガーデン
Dates: (Saturday April 15th and Sunday the 16th) Saturday May 13th and Sunday the 14th
Time: 10 am to 4 pm. Saitama City kindly request that you respect these hours and don’t try and visit these private gardens outside of these hours, or indeed the specified dates. Thank you.
Cost: free
Venue: Gardens in the Minuma area of Saitama City. In order to respect the privacy of the participating households, I ask you to please use the map of the open gardens on Saitama City’s website as I don’t feel comfortable publishing it here. I have linked them below. The map also shows a photo of each garden. Moreover, there is a brochure with a few photos from each location:
Access
From Higashi Omiya Station. Three of the gardens are right by the station. Another eight are within walking distance. Saitama City suggest renting a bike to get around. There are 40 Hello Cycling Stations in Minuma ward.
Official event page on Saitama City website.
Another city that operates a similar type of event is Konosu. The Konosu open garden event is on in May.