Going Places : A day in Kasama Tsutsuji Park

Date of travel : 3rd May 2009

Organized by : Aki-san and her hubby, with us friends.

It has been a while since I last posted an entry in "Going Places" series. I even haven't finished writing about my Sanriku study trip. Anyway, lets leave Sanriku for a while and back to Ibaraki prefecture. A Japanese friend, Aki, whom we knew from our school, along with her husband and a friend invited us one day to visit Kasama Tsutsuji Park in Kasama City. Tsutsuji is azaleas, from the rhododendron genus, a kind of native flower in Japan. Dakara, we could see a lot of azaleas in this park. At a certain time during April to May (maybe during that time the azaleas bloom graciously...), there will be a tsutsuji matsuri (azaleas festival) in this park. And during this festival, there is also himatsuri ( fire pottery festival) happening at the same time. As we understood it, Kasama is famous for its pottery products. And so, that was the purpose for our trip that day.

Our arrival was greeted with a squadron of potteries, arranged in lines and decorative shapes. There's pots everywhere! So please enjoy some of the photos from the trip. 

all lined up for the guests' arrival

pottery products in abundance

Himatsuri ~ Fire Pottery Festival

rows and rows of azaleas planted on hills,
 above the festival grounds

a stream or a channel connected
with a nearby rice field

~POTS GALORE~

all that you can buy

~plus some other pretty flora~

That day was quiet a hot day, but it was really nice. Although we didn't actually buy anything, but I personally had lovely time. :)