Fukiage Poppy Festival is just one part of the annual Konosu Flower Festival. The Fukiage area of Konosu became quite famous this year after the Fukiage cherry blossoms went viral. The poppies are in a different area , along the Arakawa. They are just one of two poppy fields in Konosu city. It is the smaller of two poppy fields. The other field, ‘Poppy Happy Square’ is the largest in all of Japan and has an eight day festival. At Fukiage, the festival is just on for two days. The Fukiage Poppy Festival is held at Cosmos Arena, which is famous for its cosmos flowers in Autumn. You can read more about the facilities at Cosmos Arena and the Autumn Cosmos Festival here.
Fukiage Flowers
Around the end of April, poppies and corn-cockles flowers start to grow at Cosmos Fukiage Arena. However, prime viewing for both is generally the middle of May. The corn-cockles at the Fukiage venue are advertised as “Nadeshiko” in Japanese. But nadeshiko flowers translates to “fringed pink” or Dianthus. However, it turns out the nadeshiko flowers at Cosmos Arena are actually “Mugi Nadeshiko” and people just call them “Nadeshiko” for short! You can usually see carp streamers flying in the nadeshiko fields at Cosmos Arena. However, they have not been put up the last three years due to the pandemic. It remains to be seen if they will be put up in 2023.
Poppy and Corncockle Fields
I know its quite confusing, but just to reiterate this is not the main site of the “famous poppies” of Konosu. This is the smaller site and it is relatively far from the main site. It would take about an hour, maybe more, to walk between them. But despite being the “smaller” or “sub” site, the poppy fields at Cosmos Arena are very impressive. Furthermore, at this site you can see the flowers backdropped by the picturesque Arakawa Suikan bridge (water pipe bridge). Moreover, the vibrant stunning nadeshiko flowers are generally only grown at this site and not the main site.
In one field there are various shades of poppies including white and pink. There is also a field with orange poppies. In addition, there are a couple of fields of red poppies as well as a red poppy and nadeshiko mix, as per the featured photo at the top of the post. As of April 25th 2023 the flowers are not growing at the Fukiage site. However, the California poppies are in bloom at the main (Poppy Happy Square) site. You can check the current condition of the flowers at Fukiage here.
Fukiage Poppy Festival
The festival at Cosmos Fukiage is just on for one weekend. In 2023, that is Saturday May 13th and Sunday May 14th. However, you can visit the poppies at anytime, not just when the festival is on. Last year, some of the poppies and nadeshiko flowers were already in bloom at the end of Golden Week. After the festival is over, usually the week after, they allow you to pick the poppies for free.
Information
Event: The 13th annual Konosu Flower Festival Fukiage Venue Poppy Festival 第13回こうのす花まつり吹上（ポピーとなでしこ）会場
Date: Saturday May 13th and Sunday May 14th
Time: Currently not specified
Cost: free to enter the venue. (There are two parking lots; one is free, one costs 500 yen)
Venue: Cosmos Arena Fukiage, 636 Myoyo, Konosu, Saitama 369-0135. View on Google Maps.
Access
Cosmos Arena Fukiage is a five minute bus ride on the “Flower Bus” （フラワーバス）from JR Takasaki Line Fukiage station（ＪＲ高崎線吹上駅). The bus goes toward Kita Kounosu (北鴻巣行き). The stop for the flowers is called Cosmos Arena Fukiage（コスモスアリーナふきあげ）.
The poppy / cosmos fields are about 11 kilometers from the Higashimatsuyama Interchange of the Kanetsu Expressway. There is free parking for 500 cars and charged parking for 200 cars.