The seeds for different colors of flower—pink, white, red and yellow—are sown at slightly staggered intervals

In the city of Kuki, running alongside Kasai Irrigation Canal is a road planted with flowers whose seeds are sown with great care by local volunteers. A certain stretch of this road is known as the Cosmos Fureai Road, and has signposts placed every 100m along its length which show the distance travelled along the route. The seeds of the flowers are sown on the first Saturday of August every year through the cooperation of local people—around 700 people in most years—including local elementary school students and residents’ associations, making this a road that truly enjoys the support of its local community. The entire length blooms with a single type of flower: poppies in spring, cosmos (autumn cherry blossom) in fall. The seeds for different colors of flower—pink, white, red and yellow—are sown at slightly staggered intervals, so that even if you run on this route daily you will find that its appearance changes from day to day and can be enjoyed for a long time.

This is a course I generally run on days when I go for a jog in the morning; it is a flat road with relatively few major intersections or crossings, and people can also cycle here. I particularly recommend this route in the spring and fall when the route is easy to run and you get a strong sense of the season. The flowers are absolutely beautiful, and it gets you into the mood for running. When I’m running towards my workplace, I follow the passage of the canal downstream. Alternatively, I sometimes run in an upstream direction and keep going until I get to the Tone River.