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For the second year in a row, Kinchakuda Manjushage Park in Hidaka City, Saitama Prefecture, are discouraging visitors by cutting the red spider lilies down. In a 'normal' year, thousands of people descend on the otherwise quiet Hidaka City to witness one of Japan's most famous autumn scenes. Perhaps one of Japan's most famous scenes ever. Normally, about FIVE MILLION spider lilies bloom in Kinchakuda from mid September to the end of the month. During the period of bloom there is normally a festival on with food stalls and stage performances. Not only was there no festival in 2020 they cut the flowers down. A drastic move spurred by the hundreds of spectators who were turning up daily to view the flowers despite the request from the park not to. In 2020, they advertised well in advance that there would be no festival. They also asked people not to come to see the flowers. But a couple of days after the spider lilies bloomed, there were already hundreds of people visiting daily. As a result, on September 17th 2020 they mowed all the flowers down. This year, to avoid a repeat of last year, they have already announced that they are going to mow the spider lilies as soon as they stalk. There will be nothing to see at Kinchakuda Manjushage Park in September 2021 folks! Pass it on, so others don't go out of their way to visit, only to be disappointed. As happened quite a few people last year judging by social media posts at the time! Thankfully there are plenty of other places to view spider lilies, although maybe not as dramatic as Kinchakuda.