The Saga countryside teems with beauty in the details at any time of year. In early April, the ume (plum blossoms) and sakura (cherry blossoms) have just passed. Deeper shades of green start to return to the mountainsides, and the rice fields are just beginning to be prepared for tilling and flooding. New flowers appear in great colorful swaths: the nanohana (rape blossoms) and shibazakura (moss phlox). Look for nanohana along rice fields and rivers and even in fields of their own; shibazakura often add life to home gardens and street corners. These photos are from the picturesque village of Mitsuse, filled with cafés and hiking.
なのはな（菜の花）—nanohana—rape blossoms (Brassica rapa) シバザクラ（芝桜）—shibazakura—moss phlox (Phlox subulata)
