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信州の代表的な花見は色々ある：高遠の桜、あんずの里の杏、戸隠・鬼無里の水芭蕉、等など。

今日はそのもう一つを始めてみました：飯山の菜の花。

写真ではよく見ましたが、自分の目では初めてその黄色い花の畑と千曲川・北信五岳の背景を見ました。

亀清の若女将と若若女将と三人でドライブで行きましたが、「菜の花公園」が素晴らしかった。写真だけじゃ菜の花畑の良さが分からない。もちろん、花の甘い香りもあるけど、公園で菜の花迷路があって、入り込めば不思議な感じになる。

飯山の菜の花公園では４月中旬から５月上旬の間、８００万本が咲くそうです。その最中のゴールデンウィーク（５月３日～５日）に「菜の花祭り」が行って、千曲川に菜の花私船など、沢山の楽しみがある。

今年は春先の温度が低かったせいか、菜の花は１週間ぐらい遅れている。（ＧＷに行った皆さんは少しがっかりした様）

Nagano has numerous headlining flower shows: Takato's cherry blossoms, Anzu no Sato's apricot blossoms, the the pure white 'mizubasho' (unfortunately named 'skunk cabbage' in English) of the Togakushi and Kinasa highlands above Nagano City, and so many more.

One other is that of the 'nanohana' blossoms in Iiyama, which I saw for myself for the first time today. (Nanohana also has an unfortunate name in English: rapeweed. Forgive me as I stick to the Japanese name, nanohana, which has a much more elegant feel.)

I had seen pictures of the fields filled with yellow flowers with the Chikuma River and Nagano's 'five northern peaks' in the background. But pictures don't do the flowers justice. For one thing, seeing them in person means you can enjoy the sweet scent of the flowers wafting on the breeze.

And for another reason, Iiyama's main nanohana park, called simply enough 'Nanohana Park', has a nanohana maize allowing you to immerse yourself in the field amongst the plants bursting with yellow color.

My wife and daughter and I went for a drive today to Iiyama and thoroughly enjoyed the nanohana show. The plants normally bloom between mid April and early May, with special events scheduled from May 3rd to the 5th coinciding with Japan's Golden Week holiday. This year, however, the blossoms are about a week later than usual.

菜の花公園の詳しくはこちらClick here for more info (in Japanese) on Iiyama's nanohana.