Japan Travel Reports: Haradani-en, Nishijin Textile Center and Fushimi Inari Taisha

Travel Reports by PBY

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this user report are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of japan-guide.com.

April 15, 2014 - Haradani-en, Nishijin Textile Center and Fushimi Inari Taisha

Haradani-en is a private garden in Kyoto, apparently only open during the blossom season in spring.
This Kyoto gem don't appear in many travel guides, and therefore most visitors are Japanese.

See the official website: http://www.haradanien.com

A local bus deserve it, but I never found the correspondence from the bus taken at Kyoto station. Anyway, Haradani-en is mainly accessed by taxi, and the driver of the one I took knew very well the location.

The entry price is quite expansive for a garden in Japan, but it worth it very well (I think it was 1200 yens).

Central place at Haradani-en with sakura and hanamomo.

As soon as I was in the place, I saw flowers everywhere. Not only cherry blossom, but a lot other type of tree and shrub in blossom at this season.
This result in big range of flower colors, making the place wonderful.

The garden is made of several small paths, and the vegetation is so dense that you hardly see the many other visitors.

Haradani-en offers a big range of flowers, like the beautiful Spiraea.

The paths are narrow and winding, which hide that the place is crowded.

The mix of colors makes the place special.

For taking photo, a wide angle lens is recommended to capture the atmosphere of the garden.

But the many type of flower, most of them very accessible, make Haradani-en also a good place for close up photos.

Two colors hanamomo. What a wonderful tree.

In every directrion, it is only flowers.

In the garden, it is possible to buy drinks and several type of bento. As I wanted the luxurious sushi bento, I bought it well before noon, as they seemed to sell quickly.

The garden offers a lot of bench, most surrounded by the flowers. As they aren't directly on the paths, it is easy to enjoy the meal and relax.

The sushi bento (the bento box should be returned).

Even with a fisheye the photo is full of flowers.

I took some video of the garden, to better experience it:
http://youtu.be/LQFgr33t-AI
http://youtu.be/0uLuTJY1EGw
http://youtu.be/Kl8sDJ-5Kaw
http://youtu.be/tf3Xv6_wFYw
http://youtu.be/fGQAxf7oM8Q

After several hours in this wonderful place, I decided to go to the Nishijin Textile Center, to see the kimono show.
Seeing the numerous taxis waiting in front of Haradani-en, I took one to directly go to the center, which isn't very far from the garden with car.

Nishijin Textile Center have display about Nishijin textile, and a shop.
The exposition is very limited, Kaga Yuzenkan in Kanazawa is a lot better, and the shop sell many fake nishijin (printed textile, and not weaved). But the kimono show is outstanding.

Unfortunately, the place are limited, and with the tourist group coming just for the show, it is better to take a good place 15 minutes in advance. On the stairs and on second floor are good viewpoints.

As the kimono show started soon after my arrival, after looking the shop and the exhibition, I took a good place on the stairs to see again the show (every 45 minutes).

On the stairs, I was in the perfect place.

The background decor is small, but add a lot.

As I needed to take a shinkansen to go to Tokyo in the evening, I end the day by a quick trip to Fushimi Inari Taisha, which is just two stops from Kyoto JR station.

But as always, a lot of tourists are in the lower part, and taking a photo of the torii path without people on it was difficult.
But in less than an hour, it is possible to see the lower part, which is the most attractive with the main shrine and the best torii paths.

Fushimi Inari Taisha's torii and main gate.

list all posts

List of Posts:
2014/04/18 - Azaleas and peonies in Tokyo
2014/04/15 - Haradani-en, Nishijin Textile Center and Fushimi Inari Taisha
2014/04/05 - Takehara and Kure