Wisteria flowers blooming on the grounds of Okazaki Castle in early May. Wisteria is called fuji in Japanese and is the official city flower. The castle is famous for these flowers (Fuji festival each May) as well as for the sakura, which bloom about a month earlier.

Usually grown on a large trellis, wisteria provide a canopy of beautiful purple and white flowers, many of which form clusters up to 1 meter long. The wisteria trellis at Okazaki Castle is called the Gomangoku Fuji, a reference to the wealth of the daimyo of Okazaki during the Edo Period, and covers as area of about 1,300 square meters (approximately 14,000 feet). The largest plant has branches about 11 meters long and the circumference of its base is about 2.4 meters. As with the famous cherry blossoms, the wisteria flowers bloom briefly. The trellis then provides castle visitors with shade from the summer sun.

External Link: Okazaki Castle Wisteria photogallery

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