Kasuga Taisha Wisteria in Nara

April 23rd, we visited Kasuga Taisha, which takes about thirty minutes to walk to from Kintetsu Nara Station. The shrine is famous for deer which line the road on the way, but it's also famous for wisteria.

There is no entrance fee to the shrine where there is a large wisteria plant. We paid 400 yen entrance for Manyou Shokubutsuen (萬葉植物園) or botanical garden. The garden has 200 wisteria plants and 20 varieties. I had never seen a lot of the types of wisteria and was especially surprised by the yae type (multiple petals) shown below.

Wisteria are part of the pea family and have a strong scent that we could smell even while wearing masks.

It was super crowded when we went as it was a beautiful Sunday, but the wisteria were not all in full bloom yet, so they are expected to bloom through the Golden Week holiday.

If you look up, you will also see wild wisteria growing all the way up the tall trees growing in the park.