Heralded as the
number one most beautiful cherry blossom spots in Japan, Yoshinoyama was a must
see for me this sakura season. It was a
trip that I eagerly anticipated for months and obsessed over planning. I’m
happy to say that this beautiful location in Japan lived up to its famous
reputation and I was delighted beyond measure to see such splendour.
Yoshinoyama, or
Mt. Yoshino (yama translates as ‘mountain),
“has been Japan's most famous cherry blossom viewing spot for many centuries, at least according to www.japan-guide.com. It is said that
the first trees were planted there more than 1300 years ago. Today, the
mountain is covered by approximately 30,000 cherry trees, which open their
blossoms during the month of April.”........Yes, shall we pause, allow me to repeat that little mind-boggling fact; on Yoshinoyama there are 30,000 cherry blossom trees!!!! |
| The "Sea of Sakura" on Yoshinoyama |
The trees
in lower area of Yoshinoyama (called Shimo
Senbon) typically open their blossoms in the
last days of March or first days of April. The "cherry blossom front"
then moves up the slope to reach the upper area (called Kami Senbon) about one to seven days later. The
cherry blossom trees in the inner area (called Oku Senbon) bloom another week
later.
After the first blossoms have opened, it takes the trees about three to
seven days to reach full bloom, the best time to enjoy hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Full
bloom typically lasts for about one week. Depending on the weather, the
starting date and length of the blooming
season can vary considerably from year to year.
If you
read and understood that last paragraph you can easily understand why planning
a trip to Yoshinoyama was a logistical nightmare, especially with a large group
of friends. The seasonal behavior of those fickle little flowers is near
impossible to predict. Thus, you are left feeling ready to pull out your hair as
you are faced with the decision of, “What weekend do I book!?!?”, because you know booking accommodations far in advance (I would recommend 2+ months) is an absolute necessity.
This was
a moment where I thanked my lucky stars I lived in Japan and therefore I had
some flexibility in traveling. My friend came up with the perfect solution:
book accommodations for the two most likely weekends that the blossoms would be in bloom and then cancel whichever
weekend the flowers were not in bloom. In the end, we opted for visiting Yoshinoyama the second weekend of April.
My accomodation recommendation for visiting Yoshinoyama is to stay in Osaka,
which has far more reasonably priced accommodation (especially important for me
because our travel group was pretty large with 10 people). Then, at a reasonably early time wake up and
catch the train to Yoshinoyama (the trip is 1.5-2hrs). Our goal was to get
there early because, with it being the #1 spot for cherry blossom viewing in
Japan, we figured it was likely to be pretty busy. Plus, the sooner we got there
the more time we had to enjoy ourselves ☺
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| My Wonderful Yoshinoyama Travel Buddies |
A DAY
ON YOSHINOYAMA
I was as
giddy as a small child on Christmas morning as my still sleepy friends and I
rode the train to Yoshinoyama from Osaka. We all felt anticipation bubbling as
we neared our long awaited destination.
For me, it was the moment I felt like I had been waiting a lifetime for.
Ever since deciding to move to Japan I had been filled with a fervent desire to
experience cherry blossoms in all their Japanese glory and, from everything my
research indicated and I had heard from my coworkers, Yoshinoyama was a place
where my dreams were about to become reality.
My
spirits refused to be damped by the misty rain that greeted us as we stepped
off the train. We began to walk from Yoshino Station toward the Oku-senbon (top
left corner) following the map below.
It was an easy uphill walk along paved roads that
cross-backed up the mountain at the beginning. So while I personally think that
you can never go wrong wearing hiking shoes when you plan to do a lot of
walking, you could definitely accomplish this “walk” (the tramper in me just
can not bring herself to call it a hike…) in athletic running shoes.
 |
| Sakura Sake |
Be sure to
take time to pursue the cute Japanese goods stores on the way up. There are
many sakura-themed souvenires to be found, my personal favourite, that I bought for a good friend
and coworker back home in Fukui, was a small clear globe-shaped bottle of sake with a yoshinoyama
cherry blossom floating in the bottle. My friend was delighted with this small but beautiful
omiyage (Japanese word for souvenir).
Yoshinoyama was breathtaking to behold. It is said that the person who stands at the top of the mountain can see a sea of sakura because of the 30,000 cherry blossom trees that cover the slopes of the mountain. Despite the rain that drizzled down, the mood of the group was happy and we were all overcome with a bout of camera-happy-picture-taking fever.
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| The view as we ate our picnic lunch |
Our group had planned a wonderful picnic to enjoy on the mountain, and I could not more highly recommend this. It was simply delightful to sit in good company overlooking the beautiful view of the cherry blossom dotted hills. Many Japanese people do the same, so don't worry about it being weird, picnic-ing under cherry blossoms on Yoshinoyama is very much ok. The only thing you have to worry about is the incredible interest Japanese people will show regarding your lunch!
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| Matcha and sakura mochi wrapped in a tangy sakura-leaf |
After lunch, much to our glee, the sun peaked its head out from behind the clouds so we could all relish a bit of well-deserved sunshine. After walking towards the top for another hour or so we decided to turn around before reaching the summit. We had timed the cherry blossom trip perfectly for the lower areas, however the upper areas had yet to begin to bud. Instead some of our group decided that a visit to the onsen (a Japanese bath house) was in order and proceeded to relax in an outdoor bath overlooking the sakura. Myself and two other friends wanted to enjoy drinking matcha (a traditional form of Japanese green tea) and a sakura flavoured sweet in one of the many quaint mountainside cafes instead.
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| Yoshinoyama was better than Disneyland for me! |
I enjoyed my visit to Yoshinoyama so much that I'm sorely tempted to visit again next cherry blossom too! According to my coworkers the mountain is equally beautiful in fall with red, orange and gold foliage making it look like the mountain is on fire and in early summer the hydrangea flowers begin to bloom!
Yoshinoyama I think it's safe to say that you have not seen the last me!
XOXO,
J
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