The Hirosaki Castle Chrysanthemum and Autumn Leaves Festival opened on October 28th at Hirosaki Park (Shimoshirogane-cho, Hirosaki City).

The event is held at Hirosaki Park, where 1,000 maple trees and 2,600 cherry trees are colored. At the Hirosaki Castle Botanical Garden, which will be the main venue, there will be stage events and monuments such as chrysanthemum dolls and a five-storied chrysanthemum pagoda made by citizens.

This year, as a stage symbol, we created a flower art called “Hishō Hanasuzaku,” modeled after a 30-meter-wide winged divine beast of a bird. Kie Abe, a flower gardener who has been selected as the best work in an international flower contest, created it together with citizens.

Projection mapping will be performed during the period. Mr. Kaoru Kasai, a video creator of the citizens' group "Payapayara Boratori", was in charge of the projection mapping. Mr. Kasai is also in charge of the large snow projection mapping for the Hirosaki Castle Snow Lantern Festival. Regarding this video, Mr. Kasai said, "Because the video spreads horizontally, we were able to project it all the way to the ground. I want people to enjoy being inside the video."

According to the autumn leaves information announced by Hirosaki City on October 28, cherry blossoms are in full bloom, maple trees are starting to turn colors, and ginkgo trees are green.

Lighting hours are from 16:00 to 21:00. Projection mapping is projected from 17:30 to 18:45. The Hirosaki Castle Chrysanthemum and Autumn Leaves Festival is open until November 6th.