Each month in Gyoda City dozens of locations participate in a floral water font "hanachozu" event by displaying hanachozu at their premises. The event is called the hanachozu week, but you can actually see the floral fonts for two weeks each month. During that period for one night, only three of the locations also have a light-up called Light of Hope. It is generally on the first Saturday of the month.
For the Light of Hope event, Oshi Castle is lit up at night and Gyoda Hachiman and Sakitama shrines light up their floral fonts. Lights go on at dusk and stay on until 8.30 pm.
January 15th
February 5th (canceled)
March 5th (canceled)
April 2nd
May 7th
June 4th
July 2nd
September 3rd
October 1st
November 19th
December 3rd
Getting there
The nearest station is Gyodashi station on the Chichibu Tetsudo line. It is quite a walk to some of the locations from the station, so comfortable shoes are advised! If you are coming by car, there is free parking at several locations including at the Gyoda City Hall, Sakitama Shrine and Gyoda Hachiman Shrine. Hachiman Shrine parking is plentiful with four different parking lots.
Lynda Hogan @lynda.hogan
Lynda has been in Japan for 20 years and blogging about Saitama on her personal blog insaitama.com for 14 of them. Despite its central location, just North of Tokyo, Saitama is still quite unknown to the international tourist, but frequented by domestic travelers. It is a great place to experien...
