Bonsai Art Museum 大宮盆栽美術館and Omiya Hikawa Shrine大宮氷川神社

Enjoy Omiya, quick and easy hour train ride from Tokyo. Peaceful, away from the crowds.

Bonsai Art Museum 大宮盆栽美術館and Omiya Hikawa Shrine大宮氷川神社

2 The best way to view Bonsai?

3 Location of the Bonsai Art Museum

3.1 How to get there?

4 Other places of interest near the Bonsai Art Museum

4.1 Omiya Park
4.2 Hikawa Shrine

5 Great but hidden lunch spot for you

What is BONSAI? it is a natural landscape compressed and expressed in a small pot. About 1000 years ago, it came from China and transformed into what is BONSAI today, unique to Japan, in that there is one tree per pot, creating an image of a specific natural landscape.

BONSAI ART MUSEUM in Omiya is the world`s first public bonsai art museum. Around it, you can explore the OMIYA BONSAI VILLAGE with different gardens. Check the links here. http://www.bonsai-art-museum.jp/en/link/

2 The best way to appreciate Bonsai

How to view the BONSAI? First start with the roots and see how they spread. Then move up onto the trunk. Branches form the outline and it is important that there is a nice balance. Leaves will create a unique and special impression. The decay on the trunks and branches symbolize the passage of time and form a special part of the art.

3 The location of the Bonsai Art Museum

Why this location in Omiya? Bonsai is actually a traditional industry of Saitama Prefecture, although currently a majority of the bonsai is cultivated in Takamatsu in Shikoku. Here is an interesting blog/info for Takamatsu bonsai visits, for bonsai enthusiasts!

http://www.art-takamatsu.com/blog/2016/04/megijima-2.html

http://bonsai.shikoku-np.co.jp/en/

3.1 How to get there?

Take the Utsunomiya Line from Tokyo station. (check this article to check the useful app! How to get around Tokyo, etc? ) Just put in the name of the station, Tokyo to Toro and it will tell you which line, from which platform, at what time and so on.

It will take you about an hour to get to this area from cetral Tokyo.

4 Other places of interest near the Bonsai Art Museum

4.1 Omiya Park

Once you have enjoyed this, then take a stroll south to Omiya Park, a beautiful quiet park with a local museum, small (free) zoo and park for kids and an impressive HIKAWA SHRINE. From there, it is a beautiful walk through the Sando, or the path to the shrine, lined by trees which have breathed the long history over many centuries…It is trully serene.

Omiya Park大宮公園

4.2

HIKAWA SHRINE 氷川神社

With nearly 2000 years of history, Hikawa Shrine is the mother of 280 Hikawa Shrines in the area covering Tokyo, Saitama and Kanagawa which used to be the Musashi area.

Sando参道　Walk up to the shrine, with 650 trees lined up. If you need a break, there are lots of benches and perhaps a visit to the Japanese sweet shop on the sidewalk?

5 Great but hidden lunch spot for you!

Nice Sushi lunch at Omiya before getting on the train and heading back to Tokyo?

AZUMA SUSHI 東鮨

For only Y1000 yen, this restaurant hidden away in an alley, 1 minute from the East exit of the station, was filled with people. Lunch special has 14 pieces of sushi, with soup, salad and sherbet. Amazing quality and price!

6 Railway Museum for kids

Another famous and kids` favorite attraction in this area is the Railway Museum 鉄道博物館

Displays the industrial history of the development of the railway system in Japan and abroad, it has many actual models. Kids can experience the systems and latest technologies through play equipment and simulations.