Explore Kawachi Fuji Gardens

Kawachi Wisteria Garden (Kawachi Fujien) is a private garden located in the wooded mountains south of central Kitakyushu, renowned for its spectacularly displayed wisteria flowers. During the wisteria season, which generally peaks around late April to early May and during the autumn maple leaf season, the garden is open to the public seasonally. The most prominent characteristics of the garden are two tunnels, approximately 100 meters long, made of wisteria trees of different colors and types, varying from white to dark purple. Also, there is a collection of big wisteria trees forming a huge roof of drooping flowers together.

A viewpoint at the top of the hillside garden provides beautiful views over the wisteria flowers ocean and the surrounding valley, also known for its bamboo groves.

During the wisteria season, which often falls into the busy Golden Week, Kawachi Wisteria Garden has become very famous in the latest years and attracts big numbers of national and foreign tourists. As a consequence, access to the garden can be very crowded and time-consuming.

There is no easy access to the Kawachi Wisteria Garden. It is best accessed from JR Yahata Station by public transportation (15 minutes, 280 yen one way from Kokura Station). A rental car can make a visit easier, but note that during the flowering peak season, which often falls into busy Golden Week, poor traffic jams may happen on weekends and public holidays.

A shuttle bus operates around twice an hour between Yahata Station and Kawachi Wisteria Garden during the peak of the summer (April 20 to May 6, 2019). On busy days, traffic jams can affect the shuttle bus.

Nishitetsu bus number 56 runs approximately once an hour from Yahata Station to Kamishigeta (almost), the last stop along the line (20 minutes, 260 yen one way); however, it is still a 45-55 minute walk from the bus stop to the garden. Because the bus stop is far from the garden, traffic jams that build on busy days are unlikely to affect the buses.