Oshi Castle Ruins are located in Gyoda City in Eastern Saitama Prefecture. Nicknamed “the floating castle”, and sometimes “Turtle Castle”, due to its position on elevated land surrounded by water, the story of the castle is particularly famous. In its day, the castle was considered one of Kanto’s seven strongholds.Read More →
In advance of the red spider lily (aka lycoris radiata, cluster amarilla, equinox flower, higanbana etc) season, a photo Friday post of red spider lilies along the Shingashi River. The spider lilies don’t bloom until September. All these photos are from between 2006 and 2022. Spider lilies Shingashi River TheRead More →
Kinchakuda is synonymous with “manjushage” red spider lilies in Saitama. Furthermore, it is the most famous of the three red spider lily festivals of Saitama. Moreover, the carpet of spiny red flowers is one of the most famous autumn scenes in all of Japan. There are also several other notableRead More →
Summer in Saitama 2022 – In 2020 and 2021 summer was quite different to life before the pandemic. And although we are still in the shadow of the pandemic in 2022, life does feel somewhat more ‘normal’ than the past two years. For example, several water play areas and poolsRead More →
The John Deere Park is a work in progress, but it has huge potential. It is a “Satoyama” flower park in rural Hatoyama. A place unscathed by telephone or electrical wires, which is rare even in the Hiki District which is largely countryside. Initially, the ‘real’ name of the parkRead More →
A completely off the beaten path spot for hydrangea – Katsuragi Kannon. I’ve mentioned Katsuragi Kannon on a couple of posts on the blog in the past. But I’ve been waiting to have the right photos (which I often do) before giving it its own post! Finally, today, I gotRead More →
Ancient Lotus, Kodai Hasu No Sato, Gyoda. Mid June to early August Kodai Hasu No Sato ~ Ancient Lotus Flower Park Kodai Hasu no Sato is a public park in Gyoda city. It was developed to showcase the ancient lotus that were found in the area a few years ago. BeforeRead More →
Information for both the Iris Garden at the site of the former Shobu Castle and the annual Kuki City Blue Festival. Iris Garden at the Former Shobu Castle This is one of Google Map’s funniest auto translate locations; on Google Maps the site is called “Iris Castle Toe Iris Gardens”!Read More →
The “Benibana” Safflower Festival of Okegawa is coming back in 2022. Okegawa didn’t even grow the safflower in 2020, but in 2021 they did and even penciled in a date for the festival. But ultimately it was cancelled due to the pandemic. This year, 2022, they have even made theRead More →
Bara no Komichi is an atelier and garden cafe in Ageo City in central Saitama. Bara is the Japanese for rose and Komichi means pathway or small passage. As you might guess from the name, the showpiece of the garden is its roses. But the garden and cafe are openRead More →