Under the wisteria tunnel, at Kawachi Fuji-en (藤のトンネルの下)

5/06/2015 Béné (ベネ) 0 Comments

Japan is very famous for cherry blossoms but before and after, there are also beautiful floral seasons. Camellias , plums , azaleas, wisteria, hydrangea and so on, they all adorn the landscape with their pretty colors.

日本は桜の季節で有名だと思いますが、その前とその後にも綺麗なお花が咲きます。
ツバキ、梅、アザレア 、藤や紫陽花などは美しく景色を色づきます。

It is this way ! こちらです！

Since I live in Japan, I have never remembered such many flowers names and never got so much interested in the flowering period of each. Now, it's the end of azaleas and wisteria full bloom season. Some trees are huge and reach several meters in height. We see a lot from trains or from the road , on the edge of forests.I always liked the wisteria, it's pretty and it smells good . What was my delight to discover that Fukuoka housed the famous wisteria tunnel. You 've probably seen the famous photos you'd think those taken in a fairy tale.

日本に来てから、お花の名前と咲き頃を覚えるようになりました。今はアザレアが落ちていて、藤が満開の季節です。
電車でよく藤の木 見る事が出来て、高さでいつも驚きます。やっぱり高いです！
藤が綺麗でいいにおいがしているので子供の事からずっと好きです。
噂の藤トンネルは福岡県にあると知っていた瞬間に行きたくなりました。河内夫人というところにあります。みなさんはこのトンネルがご存知でしょうか？

It was one of the places I wanted to definitely go this year and my wish was made Tuesday, May 5 It left for the garden of Kawachi Fuji- in and its famous wisteria tunnel.

河内藤園は今年に行きたかった場所の一つです。無事に5月5日に行けました！

The photos might be known, there is hardly anything about this place. It is a small garden located in the countryside, in the east part of the city of Kita- Kyushu, north of Fukuoka prefecture. It is closed almost all the year and is best known local and Asian tourists.
It's been month I didn't go to Kita-Kyushu. I especially like this city. It is industrial and seems to have nothing to offer at first glance but is full of surprises and have ​​some nice corners like the Kawachi Fuji-en.

写真が有名なくせに、情報があまりありません。北九州市にあります。2ヶ月以外閉まっているので少し行きづらいですが、多くの北九州人と東アジアの観光客に知られているそうです。
2ヶ月ぶりに北九州に行きました。北九州がやっぱり好きです。工場がいっぱいあって、最初の意見は「なにもない」と思う人が多いと思いますが、河内藤園みたいな良いところばっかりがあります。

When we arrived in the garden, we preferred to leave the tunnel to the end and took another path , just as poetic as it is already under the wisteria . I was surprise by the scent of flowers : present but not heady, it smelled really good. Immediately after, the phobic insect that I am immediately saw the huge bees that were forage. Wisteria attract these insects and the Japanese ones are big. There were really everywhere and I had a rough time (and Daisuke's arm suffered because I was clinging to him).
By stoping where there were no flowers above my head, I was able to enjoy their beautiful colors : it was the peak of blooming so purple was amazing. There was also white wisteria.

 藤園に到着したら、トンネルを最後に行くために別の道を使いました。藤はたくさんあって、とても綺麗でした。お花の香りでビックリしました。強すぎなくて良いにおいしていました。そのあとすぐでかいなハチを気付きました。私は虫に恐怖症がありますのでとてもとても辛かったです。日本のハチはフランスのより大きいです！怖い〜
美しい色を楽しめました。お花は満開でしたので紫色はとても綺麗でした。あと、白の藤もありました！

So, before going throught the tunnel, we visited the other wisteria parts of the garden. It was magical but the atmosphere was different than I had imagined : it was crowded and we spent time avoiding people and also the ud on the ground.
トンネルはとても素敵でしたが、多くの人が居たので ぶつからないようにずっと気付かなければなりませんでした。そして泥だらけで滑りやすかったです。
















I think everyone will agree to say that this place is beautiful but after you into this magical world , I want to restore some truth about this place because there is a difference between photos and reality (although I preferred to show the attractive side , you can see a bit if it in my pictures) .
とても綺麗ですね
しかし、写真と現実は少し違いますので色々説明をさせていただきます。

People / 大勢
It was really crowded. There are only two small roads leading to the garden and despite we departed at 9am, we could not get to the garden until 1:30pm as it was completely crowded. 4 hours to lto less than 6km ... and we left the car halfway to continue by foot.
The garden is quite difficult to access: there is no train station or bus stop nearby. You mus either rent a car, take a taxi or walk from the nearest bus stop (approximately 3km). I recommend the last option because it will takes the less time and the path is very nice, especially on the late part of the course because it runs along the Kawachi water storage.
We went right wile Golden Week holidays so it was tenfold but do not expect to have the garden for you like in the pictures you can see on the internet, which certainly date from the time when its garden was not well known.
Remember to arrive early, when we left the garden around  2pm there were almost a 200m line of people who were waiting to enter the garden.
とても込んでいました。藤園まで、小さな道路を二つしかありません。 私ハチは9時に北九州出発したのに、13時半に到着しました。途中で車を注さして、残りを歩きました。
藤園のアクセスが少し難しいです。近くに駅とバス停がありません。レンタカーをして、タクシーに乗って、一番近いバス停までバスに乗って残りを歩く、選択が多いですが、おすすめはバス＋徒歩です。
道がから河内貯水池が見えるので歩くのは全然辛くないです。
GW中で行きましたので平日より人が5倍くらいだと思いますが、ネットで見つける誰もいない写真みたいに誰もいない瞬間を見るの難しいでしょう。
帰ったときに入園のお待ちのお客様が行列でしたのでお早めに来た方が良いと思います。

Kawachi water storage / 河内貯水池

Facilities / お手洗い
The garden does not have toilets (well , 2 cabins as we can found on construction sites) . There are some all along the road but I have never seen such a dirty toilet. It was just awful, probably because the number of people using them.
藤園にはトイレはありません。工事で使われているトイレがありますが行列でした。
あと、藤園の道にトイレはありますが、使えないくらいとても汚かったです。

If you still want to go, you know what you have to do on your next stay. Meanwhile, I would choose another place filled with wisteria for next year .
そろそろ藤の花は落ちるはずなので行きたい方はお早めに〜
私は来年は別の場所に行って見ます。

 
KAWACHI FUJI-EN (河内藤園) 
Adress / 住所 :
Fukuoka Prefecture, Kitakyushu, Yahatahigashi-ku, Kawachi, 2 chome 2-48  
福岡県北九州市八幡に地区、河内2丁目 2-48

Phone / 電話番号 :
093-652-0334  

Price / 入園料金:
from free to 1000 yens in high seaso (wisteria bloom)
無料→1000円（藤の花の季節）

Opening hours / 開園時間:
from 9am to 6pm, from mid-april to end of may and from mid-november to mid-december.
9時～18時、開園時期 4月中旬～5月下旬、11月中旬～12月中旬

Access / アクセス:
 Yahata Station(八幡駅) on Kagoshima line (1100 yens from Hakata) then bus n°56 to Ueshigeta (上重田), then by foot.
八幡駅で下車（鹿児島線、博多駅から1100円） →上重田まで56番バス→徒歩（30分くらい）