Kodai Hasu no Sato in Gyoda

Gyoda City's Kodai Hasu no Sato is a popular place to see lotus. Kodai hasu literally means "ancients lotus", and the name is appropriate due to the 1400-year old lotus seeds found on the grounds of a garbage incineration plant there in Showa 46. They did not suspect the age at first, but when the seeds bloomed, it was noticed that the number of petals was less than ordinary lotus. Since it looked like an extinct ancient lotus, they used an isotope method to determine that it was indeed 1400 years old.