18/03/2026
Sometimes you have to remind yourself there is still some good in this world.
Mr. Kuroki, an elderly man who lived in Shintomi Town in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, had a very big love for his wife. It gave him the inspiration, the will, and the power to create extraordinary beauty. The couple had married in 1956 and lived a modest life running a small dairy farm on their little plot of land. They worked hard managing 60 cows and 2 children. They saved a little bit over the years and tagged it for a future trip so they could see the rest of their native country.
When after 30 years of marriage, Mrs. Kuroki went blind, she lost her will to live. She became a recluse. Sad that she could no longer see, Mr. Kuroki spent the next 2 years of his life laboring to create an astonishing massive garden around their home, just so she could smell the flowers. Mr. Kuroki had discovered that shibazakura, or the moss phlox, a pink-colored flower, had an exceptionally sweet smell. So he chopped down a few trees and cleared the land where the couple’s dairy farm once operated, and he planted hundreds of thousands of these special blooms.
Mrs. Kuroki began to venture outside, lured by the fragrance. Her smile and her joie de vivre returned. Word began to spread about Mr. Kuroki’s labors of love and the magnificent garden he planted and visitors began to arrive to see it and hear the story directly. And now, about 7,000 people from all over Japan come to visit the garden every day in springtime, during March and April, to witness Mr. Kuroki’s labor of love and smell the fruits of his labor.