The History of Jindaiji Orchid

1992: Jindaiji Orchid opens

The Jindaiji Orchid opened in 1992 as a flower shop in Jindaiji, Chofu. In the beginning, the store opened primarily for orchids, but soon it became clear that there were no other orchid shops around Tokyo. The store sold orchid flowers of different types, and they were used at a giant orchid. At that time, the regular colors for flowers were white, red and white and red mixed, and they were all big so there were no mini sizes for the orchids. The busiest times of the year for the store were March and April (the time school started), May (Mother’s
Day), July (ochugen), and the busiest winter months
November and December.

1995: Winter-used flower building built

In 1995, a room for keeping temperature consistent
during the winter was made. By doing this, popular winter
flowers such as the Cattleya were able to be grown and sold. Other popular flowers such as the Cyclamen started selling as well.

1996: A second winter-used flower building built

The year of 1996 was a year that another building for temperature reasons was built. As doing this, the growing rate of the store soared and they started having lots of power in the winter flower area. Something the store featured was the fact that at the same time it sold flowers, it also grew them. At the time, most flower stores kept their business to only selling flowers, so this worked out as a great ability for the store.

Around the Jindaiji Orchid

It has been 30 years since the Jindaiji Orchid has opened in Jindaiji, Chofu City. It is around 20 minutes from the center of Jindaiji. It is also 10 minutes by car from the gravestone of Isami Kondou, a famous figure in the Shinsengumi of the Edo period of Japan. The store is around the center of the Chuou-Sen and the Keiou-Sen. If you were to ride the Chuou-Sen, the closest stations are the Mitaka or Musashi-Sakai Stations. If you were to ride the Keiou-Sen, it would be Chofu or Nishi-Chofu Stations.

To walk from the store to the train station would be tedious, but it is possible, and it takes around 45 minutes to an hour. As you get farther from the train station, the houses become more spread out, and there are less mansions and more houses. The area around Jindaiji is full of nature.
The area around the store is also wealthy with nature, and there are a lot of farmers in the area, as there are huge cabbage fields all over the place.

Jindaiji town was named after a Buddist god named very similarily. It is apparently a protection god for Buddism. It is said that the god lived in the temple of Jindaiji and so it named the city after that god.

The Jindaiji plant park is about twenty minutes from the store. The plant park has 4,000 different plant species in the land, and the rose garden is very famous. In the spring and in the fall, a festival is done, and many events and concerts take place. There are also a lot of cherry Blossoms(sakura) trees in the park, and the park values the trees the most. The park also has Someiyosino trees on the west side.

One of the most famous figures of Chofu City is Isami Kondou. He was a leader in the revolution group Shinsengumi of Japan. The group was helping out the Edo Bakufu, sort of like the CIA of the United States. But as the powerful Edo Bakufu was overthrown by a couple of people who were not happy with the way things were ran, Kondou was captured as a man that commited treason. Although Kondou really did nothing wrong, the new leaders executed him anyway, and his body was buried without his head, which was cut off and shipped to Kyoto. The grave is around 10 minutes by car to the store.