The Man’yo Botanical Garden

Established in 1932. It contains approximately 300 species of the plants mentioned in the Man’yoshu, the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, which was compiled in the eighth century. Noted scholar Sasaki Nobutsuna (1872–1963), who specialized in Man’yoshu studies, founded the garden and gathered many of its plants. Classical Japanese poems from the Man’yoshu are displayed inside the garden alongside the plants that they mention, allowing visitors to appreciate the various species in their historical and poetic contexts. The Man’yo Botanical Garden is famous for its more than 200 wisteria trees in twenty different varieties. The flowers bloom between late April and early May.