The annual Hagi Festival began on the 17th at Nashinoki Shrine in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto City, which is known as a famous place for clover. Karen flowers began to bloom around the shrine, giving worshipers the feeling that autumn had arrived.
Approximately 500 hagi trees are planted mainly along the approach to the shrine. According to Nashinoki Shrine, flowering has been delayed due to the harsh lingering heat, but the best time to see them is from late September to the end of the month, and the flowers can be seen until mid-October.
At Nashinoki Shrine, a ''Prefectural Citizen Haiku Contest'' was held by the haiku association ''Kyo-kanokosha'' in conjunction with the festival. 122 people wrote 244 poems. The beauty of the clover and the poems that overlapped with flowers and oneself stood out. Strips of paper with poems written on them were hung from the plants, adding color to the white and purple flowers.
A woman (32), a company employee from Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and a woman (29), a civil servant from Nagoya City, who visited on a trip, said, ''The flowers were small, and they were soothing.'' On September 23rd, Iaido and dance offerings will be held, and on the 24th, Shinto rituals will be held.
