Murasaki Yama

A purple mountain!

Murasaki Yama Mitsuba Tsutsuji Park is a privately owned azalea park on the side of a mountain in Ogose town. It is most commonly called "purple mountain". The owner opens the purple mountain to the public for a few weeks a year when the purple azalea are in bloom. The mountain is hidden behind another mountain which also has azalea growing on it. You have to trek up behind that mountain to reach the hidden gem. It is really stunning and surprisingly big. You can walk around to the backside of the mountain where there are more purple and some pink azalea in bloom. There is no charge into the park, but there is a donations box at the entrance. Donations are used to maintain the azalea. There is no parking at the park, but you can use a free public car park nearby.