Hanamiyama

This is a privately-owned garden that belongs to a local farmer who opens it to the public free of charge so that people can enjoy the beautiful flowers.

A place well-known for flowers, leading Japanese photographer Shotaro Akiyama visited Hanamiyama Park every year, believing there was a Shangri-La in Fukushima. With wintersweet, Japanese cornel, witch hazel, forsythia, higan cherry, Yoshino cherry, flowering peach, Japanese quince, iris, nandina and many others, there are beautiful flowers in full bloom every season. The competing blooms of flowers including plum blossoms from late March, and cherry blossoms and flowering peach from early or mid April (in a typical year) make for particularly spectacular viewing.
The flower viewing season (early-late April) attracts the most visitors so there are traffic restrictions on the surrounding roads during this time.
Please check the website below prior to visiting in the peak blossom season.
Visitors with a disability or who are unsteady on their feet may talk to the Fukushima Barrier Free Tourism Center.
Local farmers spent many long years during the impoverished war-time period clearing a thicket and then started planting flowers for pleasure. With such attractive beauty, he opened his field to the public in 1959,believing the natural beauty of the flowers to be wasted on one person and wanting thousands to share in the joy.
The park is popular with locals as well as with visitors from other parts of the prefecture and Japan.

Information

Address: Fukushima-ken, Fukushima-shi, Watari

Closed: Open 365 days

Transport

Train: 15 minutes from JR Fukushima Station

Car: 30 minutes by car from either the Fukushima-Nishi Interchange or the Fukushima Iizaka Interchange, both on the Tohoku Expressway. (There is a temporary car park at Abukuma Water Park when there are traffic restrictions.)

Bus: Catch the Watari Minami Mawari (Watari South Loop) bus from stand 8 at the East Exit of JR Fukushima Station and alight at the Hanamiyama Iriguchi bus stop. From there it is a 25-minute walk. (Special bus service, Hanamiyama Bus, operates during peak blossom season.)

〔By Taxi〕15 minutes from JR Fukushima Station When walking in the park There is a community of flower and tree growers in the area surrounding Hanamiyama so please do not enter flower and tree gardens and do not damage vegetation. Please refrain from entering the park and parking on the road from late at night to early morning as it may disturb those living nearby. Please take your rubbish with you. Please take care when walking as authorized vehicles also use the road. Please keep pets on a leash and make sure they do not disturb other visitors. The flower viewing season (early-late April) attracts the most visitors so there are traffic restrictions on the surrounding roads during this time. There are traffic restrictions on the surrounding roads during the flower viewing season so priority parking for visitors with a disability or who are unsteady on their feet is available at the Watari Taiikukan Ground (Watari Gymnasium field). From there, a shuttle bus operates for 500 yen return (passengers aged 6 and over).

Accessibility Information

Disabled Parking: ○

Wheelchair Accessible Toilet: ○

Signage: English

Anyone can enjoy the path to Hanamiyama, but the path within the park has steep inclines and the footing is poor in parts. The crowds during peak viewing season make it difficult for visitors in wheelchairs or with limited mobility to reach the summit.