Ichikai Shibazakura Park

photo by t.kunikuni · CC BY-SA 2.0

photo by Tatsundo h at Japanese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

280,000 phlox plants over 18,000 sq m: one of the largest areas in Honshū.

The park, opened in April 2006, devotes 18,000 of its 80,000 square metres to about 280,000 creeping phlox plants (芝桜) in four colours (red, pink, purple, white), laid out to trace the course of the Kobai River that flows alongside. It is one of the largest expanses of shibazakura in Honshū, and it blooms in April, well before the hydrangeas and wisteria that mark late spring in the rest of the prefecture.

Ichikai is a small farming municipality, also known as a nesting area for the sashiba raptor (grey-faced buzzard), which gives its name to the adjacent michi-no-eki. The park was created specifically to give the municipality a seasonal attraction, modelled on other better-known shibazakura parks in Japan.

ℹ️ 9:00–17:00, closed on Thursdays. Annual festival ‘芝ざくらまつり’ running through the whole of April, with stalls and performances; outside the blooming period the lawn stays green and entry is still governed by the same hours.

Sources: ichikai-kankou.jp · town.ichikai.tochigi.jp

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