Roses are very popular in the eastern world and there are several species indigenous to Japan. One even appeared in the famous old Japanese story "The Tales of Genji".
The gardens are open until 8 pm on Saturday and Sunday during the Rose Fiesta. At night, you can see lit-up roses, which have fascinating beauty. The feeling you get seeing the roses is completely different from the one you get during the day.
Event Report
How can I share my impression? I've been going to Jindai Botanical Park for five years. Usually, I visit the Rose Fiesta, held every May and October during the rose season. When I visited for the first time, I was impressed from the bottom of my heart that such a wonderful place was in the neighborhood.
I will explain why I like roses...
I managed a British-style tearoom for about a year at the Japanese Northern Culture Museum in Niigata. While there, I arranged some roses in order to decorate the store. The beauty and enchanting perfume of the blossoms, as well as their perseverance despite rain and storm, delighted me. Since then, the appreciation and cultivation of roses have become one of my hobbies. As such, as a "Rosarian" beginner, I began to go to the Rose Fiesta five years ago. Although the faces are the same every year, there is always something different and a new discovery. I am always left impressed.
When the roses on my small veranda garden bloomed, I decided to visit the Spring Rose Fiesta 2012. A sign at the entrance said that 80 percent of the roses inside the garden had bloomed. Since it was Saturday, many visitors were enjoying the beautiful roses. Many boasted photography equipment as well and were taking photographs.
"Oh, I remember that you were here last year also."
I had only brought my iPhone to take photos and repented not having brought a digital camera, which I thought would be too bulky.
The energy of roses allows you to fully explore the garden of good and evil. However, what I wanted to meet most was the little girl, or boy: a rose made in France in 1945 called "Peace". Although there are many attractive kinds, I felt at once at peace after seeing this rose. It was just like the "Rose" of "Le Petit Prince".
Every year, I visit a corner of the main gardens full of "Species" and "Old roses". "Old roses" generally refer to roses grown before 1867. These old roses are also important as mating parents for modern roses. As for the old roses arranged at Jindai Botanical Park, some are as popular as the mating roses. And the existence of "Species" is very mysterious!
The shape of primitive roses is very simple and not really decorative. Primitive roses are just lovely like little children and look like they aren't even proud of their beauty. And like the babies of beasts, they have many thorns on their stems, although they smell like heaven. They leave me feeling overwhelmed. They contain all the essence of plums, cherry blossoms, and strawberries since they are the origin of all.
As you know, the rose has been a symbol of love and shares an inseparable existence with the Goddess of Love and Beauty and the Virgin Mary, although the "Birth of Venus" from the Botticelli painting was also drawn. I feel that if Miss Rose had a middle name, it would be "Sensual-but-sincere," yet tragic. As a matter of fact, many attractive women who lived tragic lives loved roses, such as Cleopatra, and Josephine, the wife of Napoleon.
I would like to recommend that you listen to the opera by Maria Callas while you enjoy the roses. You will be very impressed by both the arias and the roses! Under these circumstances, I would like you to enjoy the roses. But hurry, since the Rose Fiesta is short-lived.