On one of the weekends, I went to the Hitsujiyama Koen (Hitsujiyama Park, 羊山公园) at Chichibu (秩父) with one of the post-graduate students Lam to have a photo outing. This park is particularly famous for the colourful sea of flowers at the Shiba-zakura Hill (芝桜の丘).
After about two-and-a-half hours of train ride, we finally arrived at the Seibu-Chichibu Train Station. It was lunch time, so we decided to have our stomachs filled before the exploration.
After about two-and-a-half hours of train ride, we finally arrived at the Seibu-Chichibu Train Station. It was lunch time, so we decided to have our stomachs filled before the exploration.
The tickets to Shiba-zakura Hill were ¥300 each, not too expensive.
There were also free postcards to be picked up at the ticket booths.
It was a sunny day and really a good day for outing. Therefore, there were already many visitors there when we arrived.
It was an excellent day for landscape photography as the sun was finally shining after a long week of absence. The shiba-zakuras were in full bloom. Shiba-zakuras (芝桜) are flowers which look similar to sakuras but they grow on the ground.
The shiba-zakuras were planted to form patterns found on a kimono.
From another angle, they looked like the waves in the sea. It was really a sea of flowers!
It was a hot day, so we needed to replenish our bodies' fluid lost from time to time. The best drinks is non other than the Japanese tea!
The park is big enough to accommodate hundreds, if not thousands of visitors at any one time.
When we were tired, we lingered around, under the shades of the trees just like the other picnickers.
After some rest, we moved on to shoot more photographs.
These flowers should have withered and dropped to the ground by the time you are reading this post, but I have captured their most glorious moment to share with you.
9 comments:
it was splendid!
Thanks, sam. :)
That s absolutely gorgeous. words cant describe the beauty. so surreal so tranquil. guess that s japan.
the sushi looks so yummy.
truly beautiful. have u got a close-up of the flowers?
Hi Terri, I have taken some close-up shots of the shiba-zakura and I'll post them up soon.
very amazing. i think i'd have gone mad if i were there :) one of my wish is to see the sea of tulips in holland. dunno when i can make it..
This is not a usual tourist place, therefore not many people touring Japan have been there. However, it is very popular among the local people.
I have seen the sea of flowers in Keukenhof of the Netherlands as well, but I don't have many good photos of the tulips. Maybe I'll put them up in my post some day. :)
Hi CK! Great pictures! My name is Nizam & I was wondering if you have the phone number of the place that I can put in my Navy? We are planning to drive there from Nagoya this Wednesday. Thanks!
Ni Nizam, thanks for your kind compliments. :) I'm sorry that I don't keep the travel information on this place. What I can tell you is that it is in the town of Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture. Probably you can find the exact location on Google Map or Wikimapia. It is very near to the Seibu-Chichibu train station. The best time to go is on the first week of May.
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