Above: Flower-viewing field at Acient Lotus Park
5.The Ancient Lotus Park Course
Left: The Ancient Lotus Pond and The Observation Tower
The construction of this Ancient Lotus Park began in 20 years ago and current park was formed in 2001. (35 acres)
The origin of this park is the followings.
When people of Gyoda built a garbage factory, they dug soil by the site to raise the ground level of the site. A pond was born and exhausted warm water of the factory flowed into the pond. Floating leaves were found by chance in May 1973 and then many lotus flowers appeared in July. They were very primitive compared to normal lotus flowers and had single, pink petals.
Further examination on unearthed seeds, wooden fragments and so forth revealed that these lotus seeds were 1400 to 3000 years old. Later, this was called the Ancient Lotus (Gyoda Lotus) .
Left: Kai-Hime princess Lotus
This is a hybrid lotus, mother is an Ancient (GYODA) Lotus
and father is American Yellow Lotus. So, it has heritable features of her parent.
Kai-Hime who lived in late 16th and 17th century, was castle lord's daughter. She was not only beautiful,but also intelligent and brave fighter for her clan.
Various materials about lotuses are displayed at KODAIHASU ANCIENT LOTUS MUSEUM in this park. If visitors go up to the observation tower, 50 meters (55 yards) above ground, you can enjoy a panoramic view surrounding mountains, not only Mt.Fuji but also Mt.Tsukuba, Mt.Nantaisan, Mt.Akagi, Mt.Asama and even Tokyo Skytree. And you can also see ”Huge Rice Paddy Art” spread across a paddy canvas from observation floor in autumn. This “Huge Rice Paddy Art” was registered in The Guinness Book of Records as the biggest paddy art (about 7 acres) in the world.
Left: Water lily
Do you see the difference between a lotus and a water lily?
You'll get answers, if you visit TOUR chapter under LOTUS
page.
Left: Male kingfisher
Kingfisher is called "Blue Diamond". Male kingfisher has a black color in his lower bill, female kingfisher has a red color in her lower bill.
In winter season from November to February, they present the annual Illumination service at this park. In addition to it, the Projection Mapping on this Lotus Museum started this season.
Wintersweet Festival is also scheduled at this Museum in January.