Visit

Kasama Chrysanthemum Festival

Kasama Chrysanthemum Festival is Japan's oldest chrysanthemum festival. The festival began in 1908 when the head priest of Kasama Inari Shrine created gardens on the shrine grounds to comfort people following the Russo-Japanese War.
Chrysanthemum festivals are typically held across Japan in autumn. Likewise, this festival has come to symbolize the arrival of fall in Ibaraki. Around 8,000 chrysanthemum plants are displayed throughout Kasama Inari Shrine during the festival, filling the grounds with the color and fragrance of Japanese autumn.

Cretaceous Rock Formations

These cretaceous rocks stemming from the Mesozoic Era (around 6.5 million years ago) are the first rock formation of their kind to be discovered in Ibaraki. Fossilized ammonites and sharks have even been discovered in the area.

Mito Castle Ruins

Mito Castle was Japan's largest earthen flatland castle, constructed between the late 12th to early 13th centuries.
It became the Mito Tokugawa family's castle after several changes in lords when Yorifusa Tokugawa was enfeoffed to Mito in 1609.
Mito Castle lost its role as a castle following the collapse of the Edo shogunate in 1868. Many of its buildings were lost due to demolition, war damages, and other causes.
Currently, the castle's earthen walls, moat, clan school Kodokan, and Yakui Gate are all that remain. Ote Gate and Ninomaru Sumiyagura Tower were also reconstructed based on historical documents.