I always have a tough time transitioning to autumn in Japan. Sure, the lower humidity means I can stop sweating for the first time in three months, but it’s a little disappointing leaving the office in the evening and finding the skies already completely dark. In my book, a persimmon is a poor substitute for a nice slice of watermelon.
However, there is one saving grace to autumn: the dazzling array of fall colors. Hitachi Seaside Park may share part of its name with the electronics manufacturer founded in the same city, but there’s no technological wizardry going on here. The vivid vermillion of its foliage is 100 percent natural.
Among the plants found in the spacious park in Ibaraki Prefecture are kochia, a type of large herb that grows in brushes about 90 centimeters tall. Hitachi Seaside Park’s kochia are clustered on a hill, and during most of the year exist as cute clumps of greenery.
Come late September, though, their color starts to shift, becoming tinged with red. By mid-October, the 36,000 kochia shrubs’ transition is complete, transforming the hill into a sea of crimson.
The park’s kochia are cultivated for decorative purposes, but the plant does have a few practical uses as well. Aside from being used in some herbal medicines, the kochia seeds are eaten in some parts of northern Japan, where they’re called "tonburi." "Tonburi" connoisseurs refer to the seeds as the “caviar of the fields,” due to the two foods’ similarity in texture.
Kochia have a tendency to absorb lead and mercury from the earth they are rooted in. As such, the plant can also be used in phytoremediation, a process of naturally removing soil imbalances.
Hitachi Seaside Park is also known for its cosmos, a flower which blooms at around the same time as the kochia turns scarlet. Cosmos come in a variety of colors, with those around the park’s hill being pink, white, and red.
The nearest train station is Katsuta Station (勝田駅), from which the park’s entrance can be reached in 25 minutes by bus. For visitors coming from the Tokyo area, there are also direct buses from Asakusa and Ueno Stations, which carry passengers to the entrance at Kaihin Kouen Iriguchi (海浜公園入口) bus stop.
Hitachi Seaside Park opens daily at 9:30 a.m., with closing times ranging from 4:30 to 6 p.m., depending on the season. For the months of September and October, the best time to see the kochia and cosmos together, Hitachi Seaside Park will be open until 5 p.m. For this year, officials predict the kochia to retain their full color until roughly Oct 20.
Admission: Adults 400 yen, children 80 yen, children under 6 free.
Sources: Hitachi Seaside Park, Naver Matome
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4 Comments
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Maria
Very interesting - I had never heard of this herb. I wonder what it looks like as a plant (unclear in the photo)?
Good to learn about their soil-healing properties - they should be planted everywhere. And which herbals medicines are they used in, for what purpose?
Goodwill_Hunting
Kochia = 箒木 = ホウキギ = broom tree (which the shape very much suggests) or also summer cypress (which the shape does not)
Novenachama
Maria: Which herbal medicines are they used for?
In China it's used as traditional medicine. It is suppose to treat hypertension, obesity and atherosclerosis and prevent metabolic disorders.
The kochia seed are also used for human food and the seeds are eaten as food garnish. The texture is similar to caviar therefore it's called a delicacy in Akita-ken. However the the word delicacy is translated as chinmi locally. Many chinmi involve salt-pickled food like uni, karasumi, and konowata. The English equivalent would be sea urchin, mullet roe and sea cucumber innards.
Yardley
This is probably a stupid question, but if the plant absorbs lead and mercury, is it safe to eat & use in herbal medicines? I guess it must be because people seem to do it, so I must be missing something. (It is a little late at night here...)