Takinoiri is a countryside area in Moroyama Town in the Iruma-gun of Saitama Prefecture. This remote rural scenic town is only about an hour from North West Tokyo by car. Unfortunately, by public transport it is a little trickier to get to and takes considerably longer. However, if you want to see a rural rose garden backdropped by hillside forest this is a spot worth considering.
Takinoiri rose garden
The Takinoiri rose garden is tucked away behind the “Morobito no Kan” on the west end of the Yuzu no Sato campsite. It is only open to the public twice a year – first during the spring rose season and then during the autumn rose season. Do be careful – the garden is completely sealed off outside of the festival period. If you visit outside of the festival period you won’t be able to get into the garden and you can’t see much from outside.
At Takinori¹ Rose garden there are approximately 1500 roses of 350 varieties in the 2800 square meter rose garden in Moroyama. Therefore, it is not a particularly large rose garden, but it is very scenic and very popular. The garden was first opened in 2000, but it moved location and reopened as it is today in 2009. Within the garden there are rose tunnels and rose domes. There are usually several places to sit and smell the roses, but during the pandemic they turned the benches back to front so you couldn’t sit on them! I’d be surprised if they do that again this year.
¹The correct spelling has three “i”s, but in English it is often spelt with only two i “Takinori” rather than Takinoiri. In Japanese it is 滝之入ローズガーデン、滝 taki, 之 no 入 iri. Taki means waterfall, no means this and iri means entrance.
On my very first visit I was so surprised to see dozens of people visiting from all over the Kanto plain (I always read the towns / cities on license number plates!). And talking to people over the years, it is quite evident that this garden gets a lot of repeat customers! It is beautifully done and there are several other flowers in the garden you can enjoy, such as carnations and Lady’s Glove (Foxglove).
Takinoiri Rose festival Spring 2023
The 2023 spring rose festival is on from Wednesday May 17th until Wednesday May 31st (all things being equal). There is no entry fee to the rose gardens for the autumn roses, but for the spring rose festival there is a cover charge of 300 yen for adults. In spring the garden opens from 9 am to 4 pm during the period of the festival. In autumn the garden is open from 9 am to 3 pm. They usually sell flowers during the period of the festival, which presumably they will do this year. (But they didn’t the last couple of years due to the pandemic)
Here is another place to see roses in Moroyama town.
Takinori Rose Festival Autumn 2023
The garden opens once again for about 11 days at the end of October so you can view Autumn roses. The Autumn Rose Festival is are generally on from October 20th to October 31st. Just like in spring, the garden is completely closed off outside of those dates. The garden opens between 9 am and 3 pm during the Autumn Rose Festival period. There is no charge into the garden for the Autumn Rose Festival, you only have to pay in in spring. The official Autumn Rose Festival page for 2023.
In the area
- About a twenty minute walk from the rose garden is the entrance to “Yuzu Walkway” or “Yuzu Promenade”.
- The Yuzu Walkway goes all the way up to Katsuragi Kannon, where there is a great sunrise viewing platform.
- Izumo Iwai Shrine, famous for its yabusame, it about a 5 minute drive from the rose garden
- Lake Kamakita is about a 10 minute drive from the rose garden
- You pass Moroyama Park on the way
Information
Event: Takinoiri Rose Garden 滝之入ローズガーデン
Dates: spring – Wednesday May 17th to May 31st, autumn – October 20th to 31st 2023
Hours: 9 am to 4 pm in spring and until 3 pm in Autumn
Cost: 300 yen in spring, free in autumn.
Venue: Takinoiri Rose Garden, 910 Takinori, Moroyama, Iruma Gun, Saitama Prefecture 〒350-0456 Japan. View on Google Maps.
Official web page on the Moroyama Town website.
Access Rose Garden Takinori
The garden is located about a 25 to 30 minutes drive from both the Tsurugashima Interchange on the Kanetsu expressway and the Ken-o Tsurugashima interchange on the ken-o expressway. The garden doesn’t come up in most car navigation systems, but the entrance to the parking for the rose garden is shared with Yuzu No Sato. And the car park is in the “Morobito no Kan”. Both of them come up on Google maps. There is free parking for 100 cars, but only about 20 cars fit in the main car park at the Morobito no Kan.
By public transport its a bit tricky. There is only a very infrequent town loop bus that goes on weekdays and the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. Alternatively, you can walk from the train station, it takes about 35 minutes on foot from Moro Station on the Hachioji line. You can also walk from Higashi moro Station on the Tobu Ogose line. It takes about 45 minutes.