The Japanese love flowers, and wisteria are among their favorites. Wisteria are called fuji in Japanese, like Mt. Fuji, but unlike the mountain, the flower is pronounced by stressing the second syllable.
One of the best places to view fuji flowers is the Ashikaga Flower Park in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture. Ashikaga Flower Park features lots of blue, white and pink fuji, as well as yellow laburnum (Japanese: kingusari) that look like yellow colored fuji.
One large fuji tree is 100 years old and its branches are supported to create a huge umbrella of blue fuji flowers. There is also a long tunnel of white fuji flowers, while a tunnel of yellow kingusari needs a few more years to become an actual tunnel. Yae-fuji, a variety with more than the usual number of petals, can also be viewed.The fuji in Ashikaga Flower Park are usually in full bloom in the beginning of May, one to two weeks later than the fuji of Tokyo.
