Kyu-Furukawa Gardens (旧古河庭園, Kyū Furukawa teien) is a place for rose lovers. It can be separated into two parts, a western garden with an impressive European-style villa, and a traditional Japanese garden with a teahouse and some notable stone bridges. While the park entrance fee is ¥150, you can choose to have a guided tour in the villa at an additional cost of ¥800. I just wanted to see the flowers, and no photos are allowed in the villa anyway, so I skipped it.
It appears that every Japanese garden have different kinds of bridges. This particular garden features flat stone bridges.
Different flowers bloom at every season in the western garden, but it is most well-known for its roses. Kyu-Furukawa Gardens hosts annual Spring and Autumn Rose Festivals, and it is always crowded. Spring rose festival is held from early May to mid June, but it appears that the roses are already starting to wilt in late May this year. Nevertheless, I still got some lovely shots of the different coloured roses. I never knew there were so many types of roses. I also discovered some new favourites. I absolutely love roses with an ombre tone.
As it is a festival, they do have stalls selling rose products and even performances. On the day we went, it was a classical music performance. It was a really enchanting experience to able to listen to live music in front of a large Western-style villa with an array of brilliantly-coloured roses. I was practically on cloud nine when they started playing Beauty and the Beast, for it is such a perfect match to the place, with the myriad of roses around us.
What delicate, beautiful pastels!
This looks wonderful. It is so interesting to see how people around the world celebrate the rose. It has universal appeal.
Such beautiful roses, and perfect music to accompany an afternoon in the garden.. That rose gelato sounds so good as well.
Thank you! Indeed it was a perfect afternoon because of the music in the garden! I didn’t get to try the rose gelato though.