Kasukabe City is probably best known as being the home of the fictional anime character Crayon Shinchan. However, wisteria lovers will also know it to be the home of the famous wisteria of Ushijima (Tokaen). Apart from Tokaen though, Kasukabe has a wisteria street “Kasukabe Fuji Doori”, where they have a one day festival during the period of bloom of the wisteria. Although, Tokaen opened to the public in 2022, the Kasukabe Wisteria Festival has not been on since the pandemic began. The locals will be very happy this family friendly festival is back on in 2023.
Kasukabe Wisteria Festival
The wisteria in Kasukabe Saitama typically bloom from mid April until about the 7th of May. However, in recent years, they have been blooming early and finishing early. This year will be the 42nd annual Wisteria festival, even though the 39th, 40th and 41st festival actually didn’t go ahead! But they did have an online event each year.
The festival line up includes live performances and a parade along 1.1 kilometers of Wisteria Street, which starts near the West exit of Kasukabe Station right down to Saishin Bank. The parade has a police band, baton twirlers, magic performances and dance. There are other performances scheduled on the day such as kids dance performances, a cheer leading squad, taiko and Yosakoi. There is also a display of emergency vehicles on the day.
Information
Event: the 42nd Kasukabe Wisteria Festival 第42回(令和5年度）春日部藤まつり
Date: Sunday April 23rd. However, if there is bad weather on the day it will be postponed until Showa Day, April 29th. If it is also raining heavily on the 29th the wisteria festival will once again be cancelled completely.
Time: 10.30 am to 4 pm (regardless of whether the 23rd or 29th). Traffic in the area will be restricted from 10 am to 4.30 pm.
Cost: free to attend. There maybe some events that incur charges. (please note that Tokaen where the legendary wisteria of Ushijima are costs 1000 yen to enter the garden).
Venue: Wisteria Street ふじどおり, 1-chōme-2 Chūō, Kasukabe, Saitama 344-0067. View on Google Maps.
Access
Please note; there is no official parking lot for this event and they request you come on foot, by bike or by public transport. Wisteria street is located close to the Tobu Line Kasukabe Station.
For more flower events and general events in Saitama, please see the Saitama Events Calendar.
Editor’s note: this post was temporarily off the website during the pandemic. It was first published in April 2017 (20170420). It was updated and republished on April 17th 2023.
I hear this year there is a lot of hysteria over the wysteria! 😛