Tokigawa Iris Garden Festival

View irises in bloom in the tranquil town of Tokigawa

"Tokigawa Hanashobuen" Tokigawa Iris Garden (Photo: Lynda Hogan)

Lynda Hogan May 30, 2021 - 1 min read

Each year in June approximately 8200 iris flowers grow in the Tokigawa Iris Garden. Before the pandemic, the town held an iris festival for one day during the period of bloom, with live performances and special events. Hopefully that will come back when the situation with the Coronavirus improves. This year, 2021, there might not be a festival, but the flowers are in bloom and the garden is open. The town requests that you wear a mask and avoid loitering for a long time.

The Tokigawa Iris garden is not particularly large, but it attracts hundreds due to the bucolic countryside setting. The town of Tokigawa is very picturesque and there is plenty to do in the area. This year, the nearby award winning Tamagawa Hot Spring will host a rainy season event during the period the iris are in bloom. The Showa retro hot springs are only about a five minute drive from the iris garden or about 25 minutes on foot.

The garden is about a 13 minute walk from the quaint JR Myōkaku Station on the Hachiko Line. You can also take a bus from this station, it takes about 3 minutes by bus. You can also take a bus from the west exit of Musashi Ranzan station on the Tobu Tojo line. It takes about 15 minutes.

The Iris garden in Tokigawa is about twenty minutes by car from the Kanetsu Expressway’s Higashimatsuyama Interchange. You can park in the town hall’s car park, which is close to the garden.

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...