和気町藤まつり Wake Town Wisteria Festival

和気町藤まつり Wake Town Wisteria Festival

Hello and welcome back to another video. Today I’m in W, which is a small town on the eastern edge of Okama Prefecture and I’m here to see the Wisteria. So in Waktown there is a Wisteria park and it’s rather wonderful. I come here most years. Um I think this is the first year I’ve made a video though. Anyway, let’s go and see what it’s like. This place used to be an Anaba, which is Japanese for like a a spot that nobody knows about, a secret spot off the beaten track. But um judging by the number of people who seem to be here at the minute, I don’t think it’s quite so much of an Anaba anymore. Anyway, let’s go and see. The Wisteria Park is right next to W Shrine. But although I’ve been to the park several times, I’ve never been to the shrine. So, just before I go into the park, I’m going to take a walk up to the shrine and just see what it’s like. Okay, so this is the shrine. It’s small, but I think you could say it’s pretty much perfectly formed. Some of the carving is quite spectacular, actually. Okay, to the Wisteria Park itself. It costs 500 yen to get in, but um trust me, it’s worth it. So, the Wisteria Park here in L opened in 1985. The Wisteria trellis has a width of about 7 m and in total it’s about 500 m long. So, it’s pretty impressive. And do you know what always amazes me about this Wisteria park? Well, realistically, probably you don’t know. So, I’ll tell you. Wild Wisteria don’t actually grow natively in Okama Prefecture. Yet despite this, the Wisteria Park in Wake has the largest number of Wisteria varieties of any park in the whole of Japan. There are varieties of wisteria here from 46 prefectures across Japan from Kagoshima Prefecture in the south to Hokkaido in the north. I think that’s really quite impressive and it’s certainly fascinating. Of course, there are the conventional types of wisteria, wisteria like this that hangs down and the longest is up to a meter long. But then there are also varieties like this which are much more like bunches of grapes. No matter how often I visit, I never get tired of this scenery. And of course, it’s not just the scenery. Of course, the blossoms look beautiful, but one thing you can’t get from a video is how beautiful they also smell. The scent is really quite incredible. In fact, I’m going to go out on a little bit of a limb here and say something that some people might regard almost as heresy, especially in Japan. I prefer wisteria to cherry blossoms. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love cherry blossoms and I love the cherry blossom season, but there’s just something so dreamy, fantastic, magical about Wisteria. So, sorry to all of the cherry blossom viewers, but um my vote is very much with the Wisteria. Anyway, back to the Wisteria Park itself. As I said, it was opened in 1985 and it was opened to commemorate the 1,250th anniversary of the birth of someone called Weno Kiomaro. Now, Weno Komaro was born in Wake and he was a highranking Japanese official during the Nara period which lasted from 710 to 794 AD if I remember correctly. Anyway, Weno Kiomaro was born into a family of Buddhists who hoped to keep Buddhism and politics separate through religious reform. In the end, he became a trusted adviser to the Emperor Kamu and he was able to use this position to encourage the development of Buddhism in a way that um would prevent it from posing a threat to the government. I find little snippets of history like this quite fascinating, especially because I knew about Weno Kiomaro from studying Japanese history. But I never realized that this garden was connected to him. More than anything though, I have to say I just think it’s so cool that someone would have a wisteria garden that commemorates their birth and life. So well done W no Komo Maro and thank you for being famous enough that um the town of W decided to build a Wisteria park to commemorate all you did. Right, I think that’s just about enough of me talking and to be honest, I’ve explained everything that I know. So, what I’ll do is I will show you exactly what I see as I walk around the garden. Please do join me on my stroll. I’m sure you won’t regret it. [Music] [Music] [Music] So I said earlier that I am very much a wisteria lover And I am. And you know what? I’m going round again. I haven’t seen enough of this [Music] yet. The wisteria are just starting to be illuminated, too. I know from previous years that as evening turns into twilight, these blossoms will become even more stunningly beautiful than they are now. [Music] [Music] [Music] I think this part has to be my favorite part of the whole garden. I mean, just look at it. It’s like some sort of magical wonderland. It really is incredible. Last year, it was raining on and off, and so the sky was really nothing to write home about. But this year, well, I’m lost for words really. The beautiful blue of the twilight sky is just the perfect backdrop to the incredible colors of the wisteria. I really could stay here all night. Irrespective in a way of the wisteria, the park itself is just such a beautiful, calm, relaxing, peaceful place to be. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Anyway, much as I would love to stay here for even longer than I’ve been here already, which is nearly 3 hours actually, Um, unfortunately I can’t. I need to catch a train back to Okama where I’m staying tonight. And at this time in the evening, the services are quite infrequent. So if I miss the train, I have to wait for an hour and a half, I think, until the next one. Not ideal. So somewhat reluctantly, I’m going to have to bid the Wisteria Park farewell for this year. I’ll be back though next year. I know that [Music] already. Okay, so I’m back at W station and as ever the Wisteras were absolutely stunning. Did you enjoy them? I think for me coming to W every Golden Week is becoming sort of a fixture. The Wisteria Park here is really a spectacular place to visit. I would only say one thing. The public transport is well basically non-existent. There are two buses a day from outside the station that go past the Wisteria Park, but they don’t run on national holidays and possibly they don’t run on Saturdays and Sundays. I’m not sure. In any case, the final bus of the day is at 5:00, just after 5:00. So, if you were planning to come see the Wisteras and then stay around for the illuminations at night, you’re out of luck. So realistically, your only options are a taxi or to walk. Now I caught a taxi going to the Wisteria Park, but then I walked back. However, it’s almost it’s not far off 4 km. So I don’t mind that. That’s not bad at all. But if you’re thinking of walking, you need to bear that in mind. It’s 4 km. But if you have your own car or you’re willing to take a taxi both ways, then basically the problem of access disappears and in that case I can recommend Wisteria Park wholeheartedly. It’s a superb place. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this video as much as I enjoyed visiting the Wisteria Park this afternoon. Please do leave a like if you enjoyed the video and please also consider subscribing if you’re enjoying my other videos. as well. Um, thank you very much for watching as ever and I hope to see you again in another video very soon. But for now from WA, goodbye.

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