Post Tour 2
Information on the 20th World Rose Convention in Fukuyama 2025 Post-tour:
Tour to rose gardens in Echigo and northern Kanto Regions

Travel from Fukuyama to Niigata by bullet train and airplane

Northern Culture Museum

This museum showcases the architecture and heritage of the wealthiest farming family in Echigo, Niigata. Inside the residence, there are collections from successive family heads, including items acquired by the 7th and 8th heads of the family. The collection includes about 6,000 items, mainly Japanese art, as well as Chinese and Korean artworks. The sturdy and magnificent architecture itself is exhibited, alongside a garden completed by gardeners associated with Kyoto's Ginkaku-ji temple, allowing visitors to appreciate the aesthetic sense of the Ito family, the owners.

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National Echigo Hillside Park, Nagaoka Fragrant Rose Garden

A rose garden located in a corner of the vast National Echigo Hillside Park in Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture, focusing on fragrance-specific rose varieties. It spans 2.4 hectares with about 800 varieties and 2,400 rose plants, categorized into seven groups according to classification by fragrance researchers. Since 2005, the International Fragrant Rose Trials have been held, resulting in 39 gold awards, 41 silver awards, and 54 bronze awards across 16 editions. These award-winning varieties are also planted within the park, contributing to the discovery of new fragrance rose varieties and accelerating the breeding of fragrant roses.

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Yuzawa Kogen Panorama Park

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Nakanojo Gardens

Nakanojo Gardens is a town garden located in Nakanojo Town, Gunma Prefecture, known for its circuit-style layout featuring distinctive gardens as its main attraction. The garden boasts approximately 400 varieties of roses and wildflowers blooming in the "Rose Garden," spiral plantings of perennial plants in the "Spiral Garden," and the "Natural Garden" that showcases the charm of naturally growing wildflowers. Adjacent to the garden is "Nakanojo Farm," which features apple orchards cultivating edible roses, offering visitors experiences using these roses. Managed by Nakanojo Town residents, the garden also includes the "Town Flowerbed." Surrounding the garden are the "Hometown Wild Mountains," abundant with wildflowers adapted to Nakanojo Town's vegetation, and a hill with approximately 1,000 Hanamomo trees serving as the garden's backdrop.

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Shikishima Park Kadokura Techno Rose Garden

Photo provided by: Maebashi Tourism and Convention Association

A rose garden located within Shikishima Park in Maebashi City, featuring approximately 4.5 hectares of land. It contains about 600 varieties and 7,000 bushes of roses, including Modern Roses, Old Roses, and English Roses. The garden's layout reflects a French-style flower bed design, with roses grouped by their country of origin. The highlight is 600 standard roses, beautifully displayed.

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Omiya Bonsai Art Museum

Photo provided by: Omiya Bonsai Art Museum

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Bara-no-Ie (Kimura-kikaku, Shop and Garden)

Bara-no-Ie is the shop and garden of Tokunori Kimura, a renowned rose breeder in Japan. Visitors can observe the breeding and selection processes in outdoor cultivation fields. Kimura prioritizes disease resistance as the primary breeding goal and brands his roses under the name "Rosa Orientis." His roses are known for strong, continuous flowering, compact bushes suitable for Japanese housing conditions, and their ability to thrive in hot and humid climates. They are particularly well-suited for Asian climates, with distribution networks in Taiwan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and South Korea.

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The Natural Gardens of Sakano

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Ibaraki Flower Park

Opened in 1985 in Ibaraki Prefecture, this park centers around roses, the prefectural flower. Approximately 900 varieties of roses are planted, with sections like "Rose Terrace," "Roses by Color," "Fragrant Roses," and "Rose Tunnel." It also has a preserved garden of rose varieties since its opening. Visitors can enjoy experiences such as distilling roses picked in the cut flower rose greenhouse at Atelier Rose Farm and making bouquets. With its undulating terrain, the park also features seasonal flowers like cherry blossoms, camellias, hydrangeas, and Japanese lilies.

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The City of Sakura Rose Garden

This Rose Garden was established based on the Rose Garden Alba, founded by Seizo Suzuki, one of Japan's leading rose breeders, who collected roses from around the world throughout his lifetime. The garden was relocated to Sakura Kusabue no Oka, a public facility in Sakura City. Its primary purpose is the collection and preservation of Heritage Roses—wild and old roses—as genetic resources for future generations. The garden features 2,500 rose bushes of 1,250 varieties and received special recognition by winning the WFRS Award of Garden Excellence in 2015. The 12th International Heritage Rose Conference was also held at this garden. The library houses a collection of 9,000 books and materials donated by the Suzuki family, available for public viewing. The garden is managed and operated by the NPO Rose Culture Research Institute.

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