Ikuta Ryokuchi Rose Garden – my first visit in 2020

Ikuta Ryokuchi Rose
Ikuta Ryokuchi Rose Garden.

In 2020, I found a new place for flowers, Ikuta Ryokuchi Rose Garden. It was in Kanagawa Prefecture. That seems far, but not really. It is near Tokyo, and I went there by the Keio-Inokashira and Odabyu lines. Station to station, it took only thirty minutes. It was a good afternoon. The park was pretty.

I enjoyed it, but there were two problems. It was quite a long walk from the station, about twenty minutes. The second problem was that the garden was on a hill. It was a very steep hill, with many stairs to climb to get to it! After I got to the top, I was puffing for breath. I should have trained for this place!

Ikuta is about 1.2 hectares in size. On the grounds are about 4000 rose bushes. The plants are both English and international. Volunteers take care of everything. They run the garden on donations, supplemented by plants they sell from their shop.

The garden was very European in style, with some Roman statues. For me, that was quite different. It was the first time I saw something like that at a park in Tokyo.

There were many types of roses. Miniature and climbing trellises. They were of various colors. There were also some climbing roses bushes, which was good to see. But, the park’s favorite were the white ones, of which there seemed to be many.

I spent more than two hours there. The day was surprisingly hot, and most people took off their jackets. With no cloud cover, the sunlight was quite harsh on the flowers. 

Unfortunately, I got there late in the season. Some of the flowers seemed to be withering. And others showed apparent signs of insect bites. Still, a few looked good.

For some pictures, I shot in high-speed sync mode with a flash. Many people use it for model shooting under a bright sun. I’ve found it very useful for flowers. The flash illuminates the plant, and the shutter reduces the background ambient light. Whoever invented this technique was a genius.

I think it made some of the flowers look better than they did. The flash helped the colors pop with the darkened background. It would be good if I could use it all the time, but it’s not always possible. With the extra gear, bags become very heavy.

After this outing, it’s safe to say that the season is on its last legs. It should be over by the weekend. Hopefully, the flowers will last a little more.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. And if you have been to this festival, please share your thoughts about it. We’d love to hear from you.

Park rules

  • Tripods are allowed, but only from the perimeter of the park.  
  • Dogs are allowed, but they need to be carried (so no Afghans, I guess!).
  • Eating is not allowed on the benches.
  • No smoking in the park itself, but there is a smoking area (at the bottom of the hill).

Ikuta Ryokuchi Park details

See the park’s location, admission costs, and opening hours on the official website.

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