Daffodil Festival (also known as the Narcissus Festival) in Gongendo Park, Satte, Saitama in 2023.
Each year in winter, from early January until around early February, thousands of daffodils and narcissus grow in the number four park of Satte Gongendo Park. The daffodil were first planted in 2005 and their numbers grew over the years. At their peak there were about half a million daffodils around 2019 and 2020.
Daffodil Festival
Gongendo is a prefectural park in Satte, renowned for its seasonal flowers. During the pandemic they cancelled many of their annual flower festivals, including the daffodil festival. Moreover, in 2021, they didn’t cultivate the daffodils and a lot less than normal bloomed. Unfortunately, this year, there are also a lot less than the normal half a million (500,000) daffodils that used to bloom in the park before the pandemic. Presumably because they didn’t maintain the flowers for two years, fewer have grown in the past three years.
Satte Gongendo Park posted yesterday, January 10th, to confirm that the festival will go ahead as planned from this Saturday the 14th. They didn’t add an end date though. But after a bit of sleuthing I found additional information on the Satte City Tourism Association website. According to the Satte City Tourism Association the festival is on until February 5th. But that is subject to change depending on the condition of the flowers. During the festival period, the teahouse near the main car park is open all day long. It sells snacks, coffee and ice cream. In addition, members of the NPO Satte Gongendo Sakura Zutsumi Preservation Society provide free tours of the park for those who wish. On Saturdays and Sundays they will sell seedlings at a stall by the tea house.
During the period of the daffodil festival you can check the flowering condition on this page on the Satte Tourism website. They update it on Tuesdays and Fridays during the festival period only.
The number four park where the daffodils grow is also where you can see stunning cherry blossom and rapeseed scenery in Spring. In June, they have the most beautiful Annabel Hydrangea. Then, in September you can see vibrant red spider lilies. The red spider lily festival was on in September for the first time in three years. In recent years, they are also growing sunflowers in summer. I’ve no doubt it will become a famous place for sunflowers in the future.
Information
Event: Daffodil Festival Satte Gongendo Park 水仙まつり
Date: from Saturday January 14th to Sunday February 5th (end date subject to change depending on the condition of the daffodils).
Time: 9.30 am to 4.30 pm
Cost: free
Venue: The Number 4 park, Gongendo Park, 887-3 Uchigouma, Satte, Saitama 340-010. View on Google Maps.
Access Satte Daffodil festival in Gongendo Park
By public transport; You can take a bus from Satte Station on the Tobu Nikko line. It is the Asahi Bus bound for Goka Machi Yakuba. Alight at “Gongendo” bus stop. It costs 180 yen one way. Please note, there is only about one an hour.
The number four park’s main parking lot is about a ten minute drive from the Satte Interchange of the Keno expressway. Parking is free. The parking lot is open from 8.30 am to 5 pm. Please note, that since the pandemic began they haven’t opened any of the overflow car parks. If the number four park car park is full, you can park at the number three park parking lot and use the foot bridge to get to the daffodils.
>>Check out this completely off the beaten path daffodil spot (with a Catbus) in Tokigawa!
>>For more things to do this January in Japan
>>Saitama events by month
all i can think of is the killer daffodils in an episode of Doctor Who!