Hitsujiyama Park

The Hitsujiyama Park, which stands on a hill that overlooks the city of Chichibu, Saitama, is a part of the Prefectural Buko Natural Park surrounded by the rich greeneries. The moss phlox (shiba-zakura) that blooms all around the hill is especially famous. You might imagine moss phlox as a cherry-like tree because of its name; however, it is a perennial plant that originates from North America and was named shiba-zakura (literally, ”turf cherry blossoms”) in Japanese for its habit of spreading its cherry blossom-like petals on the ground like a turf. On the hill, there are nine kinds of colorful moss phloxes in various shades of pink and purple, about 400,000 specimens in total, planted and arranged in patchwork patterns. The spot is also famous for cherry blossoms, where about 1,000 trees of Yoshino cherry, weeping cheery, and double-blooming cherry trees bloom in springtime. In early summer, irises can be enjoyed as well.