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| Children navigate their way through a giant maze made of 10,000 sunflowers in Marugame. (Photo by= The Shikoku Shimbun) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] MARUGAME, Japan - An annual gigantic maze made of about 10,000 sunflowers grown by students on their high school's farm was completed recently in Marugame of Kagawa Prefecture. However, like last year, it wasn’t opened to the public due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, The Shikoku Shimbun reported.
Instead, kindergarteners and other children from the neighborhood were invited and enjoyed a summer "adventure" of finding their way around walls of sunflowers, some of which were over 2 meters high. The sunflower maze has been planted every year since 2000 as part of Hanzan High School's efforts to engage with the local community. This year, 163 first-year students sowed sunflower seeds at the 25-acre farm in early May and proceeded with preparations such as weeding and making signboards for the maze by hand.
As the rainy season started earlier than usual, there had been concerns about the growth of the flowers this year. Fortunately, the sunflowers turned out to grow relatively well both in terms of height and the size of the flowers, according to the school. On an opening day, a total of 76 children from a nursery school and a kindergarten visited the maze. The high school said it would invite children from a total of 10 facilities this year.
