We had heard that about an iris festival in Itako city during our three day Golden Week cycling trip around Lake Kasumigaura. The festival is held annually from late May to late June. Since we had just acquired our car, we decided to check it out.

We were out the door by 7:45 am and proceeded to pick up our friend. We made our way southeast towards the city of Hokota. When we got to the city of Hokota, we stopped by Hokota City Hall and picked up a manhole card. The actual manhole was located just outside the main building on the left. We snapped a couple of pictures before getting back on the road. We continued south skirting the eastern shore of Lake Kitaura for another 45 minutes.

As we made our way to Suigo Itako Ayame Garden. We were pretty worried that parking was going to be an issue. Fortunately for us, the weather forecast had rain on the schedule. We thought that this dissuaded a good amount of people from coming. As we were driving along the main road, we passed by Itako station on the right. Further up the road we saw an attendant on the side of the road who was offering parking for ¥500. Not knowing what our options were, we decided to just take it. Looking back on it, we made a good decision.

Suigo Itako Ayame Garden

The parking lot was a one minute walk to the garden and we were able to take a path under the bridge to see the rest of it. All the parking we saw was the same price of ¥500. There were some small parking lots in the area southeast of the garden that had some vacancies. This may not be the case on busy days. The irises were absolutely beautiful. They were neatly arranged in orderly rows. Most of the paths were dirt, however there was a nice wooden walkway that cut through the iris fields.

We were really surprised with the variety and color variations that were on display. There were over a million irises and some 500 different varieties. These were our favorites.

We made our way under a bridge that connected to the rest of the garden. Like many bridges in Japan the clearance was not very high. I’m 5’8″ and if I stood on my tip toes, I could have brushed my hair along the bridges metal beams. Under the bridge was a check in station where they took our temperature and gave us a sticker to access the garden. Admission was free which was a nice treat.

We made our way to the central part of the park which had more flowers and the famous bridges. Along the way, we passed under some mature wisteria plants draped on a long trellis like structure. They weren’t in bloom at the time, however we could imagine that they were absolutely stunning when they were. We also passed a good number of lanterns that displayed some of the organizations that were sponsors of the festival.

We made our way to Shianbashi which was the main bridge that crossed the Mae river. The view from the top of the bridge provided breathtaking 360 degree views of the entire garden.

Itako Iris Festival

One of the highlights of the festival was the yomeiri-bune (marriage boat). It is a tradition where a bride to be is taken by boat to meet her groom. The process is quite ceremonial with traditional wedding attire and an old style rowboat. We watched the bride come down the river and meet the groom at the dock. They then walked around the garden a bit before taking some photos and a rickshaw ride away. Due to my height, we were able to get some decent pictures.

There were a number of festival stalls that were selling a variety of food and goods. We stopped by and got some karrage for a quick snack. The meat was crispy on the outside and nice and juicy on the inside.

Itako Boat Ride

We then headed over to the tourism information center where they were providing boat rides. The fee was ¥1,000 per adult and lasted for about 30 minutes. There was a bit of a line, but they were sending out boats every couple of minutes. We were given bright orange life vests and brought to one of the many traditional row boats. The boat was lined with a sheet of thin tatami and we sat cross legged on some cushions.

The boat ride was very calming. The boats oar caused the boat to gently sway back and forth. We made our way up the canal and then did a loop around back to the dock. After our boat ride we headed back to the car.

Pho at Roadside Station Itako

We stopped off for lunch at Roadside Station Itako and got some beef and chicken pho.

While doing some more research about the festival in Itako we learned about another iris festival that it was affiliated with. It was a seven minute drive to the southwest in the city of Katori. The parking lot was large and free of charge. When we arrived at the gate we learned that the fee to enter was going to be ¥800 per person. Usually we have a “while we’re here let’s do it” type of attitude. However, the prospect of paying an additional ¥800 per person to see what we just saw was a major turnoff. We decided to pass.

Pokemon Manhole Covers

By the gate we just happened to see this Pokémon manhole cover. After doing a little research we learned that there were three others in the city of Katori to the south. We had a few more hours to spare, so we thought we’d go for it.

Our next stop took us to Sawara Station which was a 16 minute drive away. We parked at a neighboring 7-11 and walked over to the station. The station had been beautifully reconstructed and looked like an old style Japanese building. The Pokémon manhole cover was located just outside the stations south gate. We snapped a couple of pictures and made our way back to the car. Along the way we saw a sign for a tourist information center and decided to check it out. We picked up some post cards and information about the area and its future events.

Next on our list was Tadataka Ino Memorial Museum. It was located in the old part of town and was near the Ono River canal. Public parking was scarce and we drove around a little before finding a lot. During our search we accidently went down one of the streets that lined the canal. We were able to drive down it, but it was pretty narrow and there were a number of pedestrians. We looked around a bit before finding the Pokémon manhole cover in front of the Tadataka Ino Memorial Museum.

Afterwards, we decided to check out some of the shops that lined the river. Most of the buildings were historical replicas that had been refurbished after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Our friend stopped by Coffee Tamazawa and got a latte to go. We tried a sip and it had a very smooth earthy flavor. The inside of the shop was modern and we really liked their sleek signs.

A good number of the shops along the river were closed for some reason. We turned around and headed back towards our car. Along the way we passed by Sawara Machiyakan which was a collection of smaller shops in a larger storefront. We were pulled in by the prospect of a sweet potato milkshake from Imoppuccino. Unfortunately, they had just run out of stock for the day. It’s definitely on our list of must try things when we come back. We were a little strapped for time, so we didn’t get a good chance to look at the rest of the shops.

Our final destination before heading back to Mito was Roadside Station Mizunosato Sawara. We stopped here briefly to find the final Pokémon manhole cover. We also picked up a station stamp, a pin, and got some drinks for the road.

The drive home took about 2 hours without any tolls. After dropping off our friend, we went home and called it a night.

Final Thoughts

We really enjoyed our time at the Suigo Itako Ayame Festival. The flowers were absolutely beautiful. The variety and volume were impressive. Best of all, the admission to the garden/festival was free. The yomeiri-bune (marriage boat) ceremony was really cool to watch. Definitely, worth seeing at least once. The decent amount of food stalls made it feel like a true festival. The whole town had a very nostalgic vibe with its old style music playing throughout the garden. The festivals time window from the end of May to the end of June made this a great way to kick off the beginning of summer. Unfortunately, our trip to Katori was a bit of an afterthought. We’d like to go back in the future and further explore the cities historic canal district.

More to Come…