Hirosaki Castle Chrysanthemum Festival

Hirosaki Castle Chrysanthemum and Autumn Leaves Festival runs for approximately three weeks in late October and early November in Hirosaki Castle Park in Aomori Prefecture. The festival combines over 3,000 chrysanthemum plants arranged in sculpted displays throughout the park with the natural autumn foliage of the castle grounds’ maples and ginkgo trees. Hirosaki is primarily known in Japan for its cherry blossom season in late April, which is one of the finest in the country; the chrysanthemum festival offers a quieter and less visited opportunity to see the same park in an entirely different light.

The Chrysanthemum Displays

Chrysanthemum cultivation for exhibition is a serious traditional craft in Japan, and the displays at Hirosaki reflect this. Arrangements include the odamaki style (cascading plants trained to cover a wide frame), traditional single-stem kiku grown to precise sizes, and the ozukuri style in which a single root produces hundreds of blooms on a shaped armature — a single ozukuri plant can display 100 to 500 flowers simultaneously. The arrangements are positioned throughout the castle park’s garden areas and change as the festival progresses.

Entry to Hirosaki Castle Park costs approximately 320 yen (adult, as of 2026) during the festival period. The inner citadel area and castle tower may have separate admission fees; check current prices at the gate.

Autumn Foliage

The castle park’s moats and garden areas are planted with a mix of maple, ginkgo, and Japanese cherry trees. While the cherries do not colour significantly in autumn, the maples and ginkgo turn yellow and red in late October and early November, typically peaking in the last week of October. The combination of coloured foliage reflected in the castle moats and the lit chrysanthemum arrangements makes for good photography at any time of day.

Getting to Hirosaki

Hirosaki is located in Aomori Prefecture in northern Honshu. The nearest Shinkansen station is Shin-Aomori (on the Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo, approximately 3 hours); from Shin-Aomori, local trains run to Hirosaki Station in around 35 minutes. From Hirosaki Station, the castle park is a 15-minute walk or a short bus ride. Hirosaki is also a comfortable day trip from Aomori City. Aomori Nebuta Festival in early August is the region’s major summer event; the chrysanthemum festival offers the same area in a more relaxed season. See our Aomori guide for accommodation and regional transport options.