福山最大の祭り「ばら祭」を旅して、福山を知る like a local in Fukuyama
毎年５月、初夏の訪れを告げる福山市民のお祭りとして開かれるのが、「福山ばら祭」。その名前から、園芸ファンやシニア中心かと思いきや、地元内外から子どもから大人まで幅広い世代が訪れる福山最大のイベントだ。いったい、何が人々をそこまで惹きつけるのか。その理由を探しに、お祭りに出かけてみることにした。
「ばらのまち」の始まり
そもそも、福山が“ばらのまち”として歩み始めたのは戦後のこと。1945年8月8日の大空襲で市内中心部の大半が焼失し、多くの尊い命が失われた後の混迷を抜け出せないなか、「荒廃したまちに潤いを与え、人々の心に安らぎをもたらそう」と、南公園（現在のばら公園）近くの市民がばらの苗1,000本を持ち寄って植えたのが始まりなのだそう。
植えられたばらは市民によって大切に熱心に育てられ、やがてピンクや赤、黄などの美しい花を開き、それをきっかけにまるで花が花を呼ぶかのように、西ドイツやカナダなど、欧米各国の寄付分を含めて約280種4,500本（現在は5,500本）が集まり、全国屈指の内容を誇る「ばら公園」が誕生することになった。
「全国美しい町づくり最優秀賞」を受賞した（提供：福山市）
さらに、1956年には福山のばら愛好家47名が集って「福山ばら会」が結成され、ばらをフラスコに入れて一般公開した「第１回バラ展示会」を市内の金融機関で開催。それが、現在まで続くばら祭の前身なのだそう。そうして花の輪は広がりを続け、福山は約50万本のばらが咲き誇る“ばらのまち”に。その後、市の主催で「ばら祭」が始まり、ばらを通じて「思いやり、優しさ、助け合い」の心を育てる「ローズマインド」という言葉が今に続いている。
1992年には、メイン会場をそれまでの「ばら公園」から「緑町公園」へと移し、2000年に全国から選りすぐりの大道芸人が集結する「ふくやま大道芸会」が行われ、続いてローズパレード、音楽や踊りのステージ、フリーマーケットが加わるなど、年々その規模は拡大し、現在は80万人以上が訪れる“備後地方最大の祭典”へと成長。大切に育てられてきたお祭り。市民の愛着がいっぱいに詰まっているのにも納得できる。
ばらに導かれてまちを歩く
「ばら祭」の朝、ガイドマップを手にまちへ出ると、複数の公園へ縦横に繋がる複数の商店街や通りには出店が並び、まちじゅうがお祭りモードに包まれていた。
駅前やデパートの前、駐車場など、まちのあらゆるスポットでは大道芸人たちの小さなステージが現れ、家族連れや小中学生くらいの友人グループが弧を描いて見物している。技が成功すると歓声や拍手が起こり、失敗したら「がんばって！」とエールが送られる。その光景が微笑ましく、つい立ち止まって眺めてしまう。
通りに咲くばらを追いかけるように進むと、銀座霞商店街（ローズナード霞）では、商店街にワイナリーを構える「福山わいん工房」が主催となり、「備後ワインフェスタ Vol.１」が開催されていた。備後圏域や長野のワイナリーが集まり、生産者が口々にワインのことを教えてくれるのが楽しい。
「ばら祭」とともに企画されるイベントは多く、次の商店街、次の商店街と歩いて行けば、「パンマルシェ」や「フリーマーケット」など、さまざまなイベントが展開されているという具合。気が付けばまちをぐるっと一周していた。
会場となる「ばら公園」と「緑町公園」に辿り着くと、一面を覆う色鮮やかなばらに見惚れてしまう。聞けば、現在もボランティアさんによって手入れされているそう。先人たちの思いが、ばらとともに大切に受け継がれている。
いたるところに、まちの人との出会いがある
ばら導かれるように歩けば、いくつものエリアを周り、まちなかに同時多発的に仕掛けられたイベントを通じて、まちの人たちと出会い、語らうことができる。このお祭りのなかには、福山の先代たちの思い、そして、今を担う人たちの姿の両方がある。その両方に出会うことができるのが、「ばら祭」の楽しさだと思う。
気づけば、朝から晩までまちを歩き回ってしまう「ばら祭」。５月に福山を訪れるなら、ぜひ、一緒に旅してほしい。
福山ばら祭
毎年５月の第３土日開催
ふくやま大道芸会
ばら祭と同日開催
瀬戸内への旅の玄関口
福山駅前のまちやど「AREA INN FUSHIMICHO FUKUYAMA CASTLE SIDE」
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住所：伏見町4-33 FUJIMOTO BLDG. 1F（RECEPTION）
AREA INN FUSHIMICHOは、まち全体をひとつの「宿」と見立てた「まちやど」です。泊まる、食べる、くつろぐ、学ぶ、遊ぶ、さまざまな要素がまちのなかに散りばめられています。チェックインを済ませたら、伏見町、そして福山のまちから瀬戸内への旅へ。
Learn about Fukuyama at the Rose Festival, the city’s largest festival
Each May, the Fukuyama Rose Festival is held as an event heralding the arrival of the first days of summer. As its name would imply, it is the largest event in the city, and while one might think it’s the kind of thing only gardening aficionados and senior citizens would like, it actually draws crowds of all ages from both inside and outside the region. So just what is it about the Fukuyama Rose Festival that people find so fascinating? I paid the event a visit myself to discover why.
The origins of the “City of Roses”
Fukuyama took its first steps towards becoming a “city of roses” after the war. Searching for a means of escaping the confusion after the loss of so many precious lives and the majority of the city center during the air raids on August 8, 1945, the people living near Minami Park (now known as Rose Park) gathered 1,000 roses and planted them in the hopes that it would breathe life back into their devastated home and bring a little peace to everyone’s hearts.
The people of the city carefully tended to the roses and were eventually rewarded with beautiful flowers in hues of pink, red, and yellow. It was almost as if the blossoms summoned more of their fellows, because this in turn led to the city receiving 4,500 roses of 280 varieties, including those donated from nations in the West like West Germany and Canada (there were now 5,500 roses), leading to the birth of “Rose Park”, one of the greatest of its kind in all Japan.
In 1967, Rose Park received the top prize in the All Japan Beautiful City-building Contest
Then in 1956, a group of 47 rose lovers came together to form the “Fukuyama Rose Club” and organized the first rose exhibition for the public at a banking facility in the city with roses on display in bottles. This was apparently the predecessor of the rose festival that we have today. The circle of flowers continued to spread until Fukuyama became the “city of roses” where nearly 500,000 of flowers bloomed each season. Eventually, the city began to properly sponsor a rose festival, with the phrase “rose mind” living on today as a way of cultivating caring, kindness, and cooperation in the heart through the flowers.
The first rose festival held on May 17, 1968
In 1992, the main venue of the rose festival was moved from Rose Park to Midori-machi Park, and since then it increased in scale with each successive year by adding on more features like the “Fukuyama Street Entertainers Party” in 2,000 that brings together some of the top street entertainers in Japan followed by the Rose Parade, stages for music and dancing, and a flea market. The rose festival is now the largest festival in the Bingo region, drawing crowds of over 800,000 people. It’s easy to see how much love the locals have put into growing their festival into something truly special.
Let the roses guide you through the streets
I set out on the morning of the Rose Festival with map in hand and found that the city was in festival mode with stalls along the shopping streets and paths connecting the several parks.
There were small stages for street entertainers all over in front of the train stations and department stores and parking lots with families and groups of school children gathered around to watch them. Cheers and clapping would resound with each successful trick, and yells of “Hang in there!” each time an entertainer botched their act. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of it all, and soon found myself stopping to watch, too.
As I followed the roses along the paths, I came upon the “Bingo Wine Festival Vol. 1”, an event organized by Fukuyama Wine Kobo, a winery located on the Ginza Kasumi shopping street (Rose-nade Kasumi). The event brought together wineries from Nagano prefecture and the Bingo region, and it was fun to learn about their products straight from the mouths of the makers.
There were many other events held coinciding with the Rose Festival, and whether it was the “Pain Marche” or the flea market, it seemed like I came across something new on every shopping street I traversed. Before I knew it, I had pretty much walked a circuit of the city.
When I arrived at Rose Park and Midori-machi Park, the main venues of the festival proper, my breath was taken away by the brilliantly colored roses everywhere. Asking around helped me find out that the flowers are apparently cared for by volunteers, so it would seem the wishes of those who came before are being just as carefully preserved as the roses.
Encounters with locals at every turn
Following the roses will lead you through several areas where you can meet and chat with the locals through the events that pop up all over the place during the festival. It truly is an event that embraces the thoughtfulness of the previous generations in Fukuyama along with the current state of the people living there now. Being able to encounter both of them is what makes the Rose Festival so fun.
The Rose Festival will keep you out exploring from morning until the sun sets before you even realize it. Please be sure to give it a look if you happen to find yourself in Fukuyama in May.
Translation : Luke Baker