Hi all, I would love to visit Japan for hydrangea season. I’ve already been during spring and fall (for context, I’ve visited: Tokyo, Yokohama, Takayama, Matsumoto, Kyoto and Osaka).
I’m aware that hydrangea season falls during tsuyu months and it will be wet and humid a lot. It’s just a personal goal of mine to do hydrangea viewing in the places that are known for it. I’ve also narrowed down the potential stops on my rough itinerary to Tokyo and Kamakura (3 days Tokyo, 1 day overnight in Kamakura before returning to Tokyo) and Kyoto (3 days).
My question is more towards the timing. I’ve read that the season lasts from mid-June to mid-July. Would it be better to go in the latter half of June or the first half of July? Also is there anything else I should also consider/check out during tsuyu season in Japan? Thanks!
5 comments
I think this would be a very hard trip to plan in advance. I live near a shrine that prides itself on Hydrangeas, and their event was thrown off by a couple of weeks because of the weather this year.
If you goal is to see a lot of Hydrangeas, you probably need to schedule your trip to Japan and play the rest by ear based on where things are in bloom once you get here.
Back in 2018 I visited Odawara castle around late June and remember the hydrangeas were really pretty!
Hydrangeas bloom during the most unpleasant season in Japan, when it is wet and humid in the early summer. Historically this was the muddiest season and thus the time of year that people could not travel, could not socialize. So hydrangeas are symbolic of separation, a romance that dies out because the lovers cannot or will not meet.
Hydrangeas are native plants that have an important role to play in the forest ecosystem, but when cultivated in gardens they suck up fertilizer and transform it immediately into bright colors, which fade quickly into a sickly grey. There is one weird thing about them that gardeners all know. If you trim the weedy branches too much and remove the spent flowers, it won’t bloom as much the next year. You have to leave them alone like a sprawling scarecrow in your garden all winter.
Why not come during the plum blossom season in February? The wisteria blossom season in May? The fragrant olive season in early October? All of these flowers are more beautiful than hydrangeas, and they even have a scent.
Flowers bloom year round in Tokyo. Come for the hydrangeas, but look beyond them, at the many lilies along the path, and the small flowering weeds with funny names like “dog’s balls.”
I would go for June. Tsuyu is kinda icky at times but then July just begins to get hot and gross— and I feel like tsuyu started earlier this past year.
For tsuyu I recommend planning lots of cafe stops. The rain can sometimes be rough, but watching it from inside a pleasant cafe is quite nice.
June is better