Ayame flowers in June

Hello and Welcome to Nipponcraft.com,

In this season in Japan, beautiful flowers of Ayame (Iris) bloom in June. This is one of the flowers I like best. The color of flowers is purple (I like purple flowers!) with the height of 40cm to 60cm, and they look like this:

Typical Japanese flower in June

Large botanical garden in Katori-city


On of the suitable place I recommend  for appreciating Ayame flowers is located at a park in Katori city, approximately 100km east of Tokyo. The park is called Suigo-Sahara botanical garden.
The reasons of my recommendation is that it is not so far from Tokyo and that the garden is large and full of Ayame flowers. And if you are lucky enough, you will have a chance to see Japanese traditional wedding ceremony held inside of the garden.
The park is located quite close to Kasumigaura-lake, the largest lake in Japan. For better understanding, it is not far from Narita International Airport.
To visit here, you can take trains (JR line) from Tokyo to get off Katori station and then take a city bus.  Actually driving a car is of easier access.

I found the park guide in English at:
http://www.katorishi.com/place/en-s_suisei.html
The original Japanese written guide is at:
http://www.city.katori.lg.jp/suisei-syokubutsuen/index.html

The garden is so large that you need about an hour to look around. There are many pavements going through flower gardens and you can enjoy the flowers .
The park used to be open until night but it now looks like closing at 18:00.

Ayame festival in Suigo-Sahara botanical garden

Katori-city is famous for preserving traditional scenery - the city is enthusiastic for preserving old houses, old bridges and old trees. This is also one of the reasons of my recommendation for visiting.

Traditional houses preserved

Another famous point of this city is that a man named Inou Tadataka once lived in this city. He was the first man to complete the accurate coastline map of Japan. He walked along the coast line and completed the map by spending 17 years.


Inou Tadataka (1745-1818 AD)


The official tour guide is located at http://www.katorishi.com/en/index.html in English . If you click the menus in the left side, you can see various scenes in this city. I am not sure if this city is accounted in Lonely Planet Guide of Japan but I would recommend you to visit here to feel old style of Japanese taste.

Thank you,
- Ken