Ashikaga

Ashikaga is a small city in Tochigi Prefecture on the northern edge of the Kanto plain, an easy rail ride from Tokyo. It gave its name to the Ashikaga shoguns and holds what is regarded as Japan's oldest school, but most travelers today know it for one spectacular garden.

Ashikaga Flower Park grows wisteria on a grand scale, including a tree more than a century old whose canopy spreads across a vast trellis. Blooms usually peak from late April into early May and are lit after dark. In town, the thatched gates and quiet courtyards of the old Ashikaga School reward a slow walk.

Wisteria season is the reason to time a visit, and the park runs a winter illumination as a second act. Direct trains make Ashikaga a manageable day trip from Tokyo, often paired with the storehouse streets of nearby Tochigi City. Outside bloom season the city returns to being pleasantly unhurried.