Information for Japan’s Largest Poppy Field – Poppy Happy Square – in Konosu City, Saitama Prefecture.
Each year in May you can see 30 million poppies, give or take, at Japan’s largest poppy field: Poppy Happy Square. Moreover, there is a lively festival at the poppy fields during the period of bloom, which is usually mid May. However, the California poppies actually bloom much earlier and as of April 24th 2023 they are already in bloom. The festival is on when the other colorful poppies bloom. The poppy festival is actually just one part of a larger Konosu Flower Festival. In 2023, the Kounosu¹ flower festival is on from May 13th to the 21st.
¹The English for the city is intermittently spelt Kounosu, Konosu or Kōnosu.
Kounosu Poppy Festivals
Furthermore, there are TWO poppy festivals! One, as in this post, at Poppy Happy Square (also known as the Mamuro Poppy Field) and the other at the Fukiage Field (at Cosmos Arena). The Fukiage poppy field has mainly red poppies. However, it also has stunning “Nadeshiko” (corncockles) flowers. It is back dropped by Japan’s longest water pipe bridge. The Fukiage field only has a two day festival.
The Mamuro Poppy Field “Poppy Happy Square” also has one of Japan’s longest accolades framing the scene: Japan’s longest riverbed width embankment and bridge. You can easily commute between both fields by car, but it takes over an hour on foot. The poppy field in Mamuro, aka Poppy Happy Square, is the famous one and Japan’s largest…
Japan’s Largest Poppy Field
Mamuro poppy field is acclaimed because it is the largest poppy field in the whole of Japan. It is also thanks to this that the Konosu Poppy Festival is famous throughout the Kanto plain. The Mamuro poppy field is most commonly referred to as Poppy Happy Square. It is approximately 12.5 hectares or 125,000 square meters and has over 30,000,000 poppies.
Poppy Happy Square
The thirty million poppies include the common variety, Icelandic and California poppies. As of April 24th 2023, the California poppies are already blooming. The common variety are the red poppies also referred to frequently as the remembrance poppy in English. Japan does not mark remembrance day except for in one location in Yokohama, at the Commonwealth War Cemetery. The red poppy does not have the same significance here and I have personally never seen anyone wear a remembrance poppy.
–Places to see poppies in Saitama–
Baby Blue Eyes since 2021
Furthermore, other blooms grow in the fields. They have purple mustard fields most years. Moreover, in 2021, they added three Baby Blue Eye fields for the first time. Two of them are quite small, but one is a decent size and it is beside a field of orange poppies. The Baby Blue Eyes and Orange California Poppies is my favorite combination. In 2021 you could see this combination as early as the end of April.
Poppy Happy Square Poppy Festival
The festival is on from Saturday May 13th to Sunday May 21st. There are food vans at the fields during the period of the festival, weather permitting. There is also a flower picking event in one of the fields. It costs 100 yen to pick five flowers. Once the festival has started you have to pay for parking. But outside of the official festival period parking is free. It costs 500 yen.
Konosu’s Japan Best List
The Poppy Happy Square is just one of eight of Kounosu’s “Japan best” claims to fame.
Kounosu’s EIGHT “Japan best / largest / biggest / # one” claims:
1. Kounosu is home to Japan’s largest hina doll pyramid display
2 & 3 & 4. Konosu grows and ships the most Salvia, marigold and primula in all of Japan
5. Konosu has the longest water bridge pipe in Japan
6. You can cross the widest riverbed width of all Japan in Konosu
7. Konosu City launched the largest firework ever in Japan
8. The largest poppy fields of Japan are in Kōnosu…
So if you come to the Kounosu Poppy Festival and go to both sites (this one and Cosmos Arena Fukiage) you can see three of Japan’s best: the largest poppy field, the widest river bed and the longest water pipe bridge.
Information
Event: Konosu Flower Festival Mamuro / Poppy Happy Square Venue 第13回こうのす花まつり馬室・ポピー・ハッピースクエア会場
Dates: Saturday May 13th to Sunday May 21st
Hours: not specified – we were there before 9 am and the car park wasn’t roped off
Cost: free for the festival, parking costs 500 yen at both of the poppy sites.
Venue: Poppy Happy Square aka Mamuro Poppy Field, 921 Haramamuro, Konosu, Saitama 365-0043. View on Google Maps.
Access
The official website claims that parking is only available at the Poppy Happy Square during the festival period, but we were there out of the festival period and parking was not a problem. You do have to use narrow roads to get to the car park that only fit one car width wise. We were lucky we didn’t meet another vehicle – if we did, one or other of us would have had to have backed up.
By public transport: Take the “Flower Go” 「フラワー号」Mamuro course 「馬室コース」bus from JR Konosu Station’s west exit to the kyuushoku sentaa 「給食センター」. The poppy fields are about a 5 minute walk from this bus stop. There is usually a free shuttle bus during the festival season only, but it has not been available since the pandemic began. You can also rent a bike.
20190513
my goodness! Ive said it before BUT…. they have a festival for everything!
Haha. As much as they have a “day” for everything. Today is Thermometer day in Japan. How utterly random!!!