Takeo · JP
Azaleas at Keishūen Garden (Suisyu-en)
In the hot-spring town of Takeo in Saga Prefecture, the gentle slopes around JR Takeo Onsen station hide one of Kyushu's most refined Japanese gardens. Keishūen (also romanised Suisyu-en) is a strolling pond garden of about 3,000 tsubo, and in late spring it earns its reputation through one show-stopping sight: a blaze of azaleas (tsutsuji) in every shade of pink, white and purple, tumbling over rocks and mirroring in the water below. Created by Kanusaku Nakane—often called the "Kobori Enshū of the Shōwa era," the designer behind the gardens of Kyoto's Adachi Museum and the Ōhori Park Japanese garden in Fukuoka—Keishūen layers dramatic stone waterfalls, clipped pines and a working tea field against the borrowed scenery of Mount Mifune. The result is a garden that photographs beautifully in every season but comes alive most vividly when the azaleas peak, making this the single best reason to plan a visit.