Next: around 20 Oct to 18 Nov 2026
Chrysanthemum shows of Japan
In late autumn, shrines and gardens across Japan show chrysanthemums trained into extraordinary forms.
What happens
From late October to mid November, Japan holds kiku matsuri, chrysanthemum festivals. Growers spend a year on plants for these shows. Some are trained so that a single root carries hundreds of blooms in a perfect dome. Others fall in a cascade, or are kept as bonsai. Certain towns dress life-size figures in clothes of living flowers. Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo stages a display in the first half of November in a style once kept for the imperial household.
The flowers
Also part of it, and being written: Chrysanthemum × morifolium (The garden species behind the show varieties.).
Original text by the Phool desk, written with AI assistance. Background: "Shinjuku Gyo-en" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Bonsai: Ragesoss, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chrysanthemum: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, GFDL 1.2, source