On a September evening, the rounded kochia on Miharashi Hill still carries the green of the season before autumn colour. Light settles over the outlines of roughly 40,000 plants, and the hill changes as the music moves. Kochia Light-up 2026 at Hitachi Seaside Park runs for ten nights, from 18 to 27 September. It does not wait for the deep red of later autumn; it makes the green stage of the plant the subject of the night.
Green kochia takes the night’s central role
Kochia on Miharashi Hill gradually rounds out from early summer before shifting from green to red in autumn. The light-up opens while green foliage is still the attraction. Under illumination, the fine branching of each plant reads not only as a field of colour but as a soft sequence of volumes. Walking between lit and unlit areas reveals the plants’ outlines in a way that daylight does not.
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of kochia planting on the hill. The theme is “Starry Sky—A Radiance Connecting Past and Future,” with about 270 lights synchronised to five pieces of music. The projected colours are not the plants’ natural autumn colour. Blue, violet and red light passes across a green base, allowing the same mass of plants to become a different landscape with each track.
Five tracks alter the depth of the hill
The central subject is not a single kochia but the continuity of roughly 40,000 plants across the slope. Their low, rounded forms repeat with the land and create distance between foreground and horizon. The music-and-light sequence does more than brighten the whole scene at once. Changes in placement and colour reveal the slope, the curves of the paths and the boundary with the night sky in turn.
The evening route continues beyond the hill. A dome of light and objects used at LuckyFes appear at the Water Stage, while the new laser installation Firefly Path moves through the trees. Light-carving works are shown in a traditional house. These elements do not recreate the kochia elsewhere; they use water, woodland and architecture differently. Keeping them distinct from the planted hill makes the park’s various kinds of darkness easier to notice.
See the green once before the 5:30 pm lights
The park opens at night from 5:00 to 9:30 pm, and the lights operate from 5:30 to 9:15 pm. Final admission is at 8:30 pm. Arriving while some daylight remains makes it possible to compare the kochia’s own green with the illuminated colour in one visit. Part of the Miharashi area is restricted from 4:30 to 5:00 pm for preparations, and entry after 5:00 pm is through a single gate on the Hina-no-hayashi side.
A separate viewing fee is charged in addition to park admission. Standard admission is ¥450 for visitors of high-school age and above and ¥210 for people aged 65 or over; junior-high-school students and younger enter free. The light-up viewing fee is ¥1,000 for high-school age and above, ¥500 for primary and junior-high-school students, and free for younger children. There are no advance tickets. Even on the free-admission days of 26 and 27 September, the viewing fee still applies.
The event is scheduled to continue in rain, but typhoons, lightning and other severe weather can cause cancellation. A cancellation notice is due on the park’s official event page by 3:00 pm, and conditions may also bring the evening to an early close. The final entry to the West Parking Area is at 8:20 pm. Evening public transport is limited, so check the official access information with the return journey in mind.
Ten nights of light, then autumn continues
The light-up ends on 27 September, while the wider “Come, See and Touch Kochia Carnival” continues until 3 November. They are not the same programme period. Plan within the ten nights for the illuminated hill; think of the later weeks as the daytime season in which the kochia moves from green towards red. Because the pace of colour depends on weather and growth, check the park’s current flowering and foliage report for the day of a visit.
Green kochia is not an unfinished version of the red view. Its dense, fine leaves form rounded masses that divide into lit faces and shadows after dark. For ten nights, the light-up draws attention to that brief stage. See the hill once at dusk and once after the lamps come on: the same planting makes the entrance to autumn feel longer.
