Peony Festival （牡丹・芍薬まつり） from May 25th - July 5th | Former Aoyama Villa （旧青山別邸）| Otaru

The Former Aoyama Villa, designated as tangible cultural property of Japan, is a symbol of herring fishing in the early 20th century. Now the "Peony Festival （牡丹・芍薬まつり）" is held in the garden.! Let's go!

The Aoyama family was a billionaire in the 20th century due to herring fishing. This so-called herring mansion was constructed from 1917-1923 for six years. The construction cost is about 310,000 yen, 12.4 billion yen in the current value!!!

The second generation, Masakichi Aoyama, and his daughter Masae had sophisticated sense for beauty and arts, which makes this villa very special.

Are you ready?

Voila!!!!
Beautiful, aren't they?

Masae loved peonies very much, and planted about 400 peonies in this garden.

During the festival period, people wearing kimono can enter this villa free of charge. Good news, isn't it?

She loves this flower very much, and constructed a "peony room" in this villa, which was decorated with peony painting, sling doors, and so on.

After enjoying the garden, we had a grand tour of this villa.

Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to take pictures in the villa. But I took a couple of pictures from the outside.

This is dry landscape garden. The white sand represents snow.

The primary material of this villa is zelkova wood. The tiled roof is rare in snowy Hokkaido. Everything here is gorgeous!!
The floors and pillars are all lacquered, and walls are hand-plastered. The wide ceiling is built of Japanese ceder, and the corridor was made of one-piece zelkova without joints from one end to the other!!! The traditional alcoves are built in roserood, blockwod, or Japanese ceder.
Of course, the peintings and calligraphies on the fusuma sliding doors are genuine treasure.

If you are interested in the Former Aoyama Villa （旧青山別邸）, now is the best chance to visit! Please wear kimono when you come here! You can enter this villa free of charge during the festival period!

■Where is "the Former Aoyama Villa （旧青山別邸）"?

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■Tour guide information■

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