Looking towards the Hanamibashi Bridge in Kenrokuen Garden

Following on from another hugely enjoyable visit to Mount Yoshino in Nara Prefecture yesterday, today I was in Kanazawa - the prefectural capital of Ishikawa and a beautiful city with some especially attractive historic sites. Among these, the real jewel in its crown is Kenrokuen, an outstanding landscape garden ranked among the very best in Japan.

Here, the cherry blossoms reached peak viewing on Friday and were still looking very fresh and attractive today, creating some of the most wonderful scenes I've seen in my reporting this season along its streams and strolling paths.

Having already survived some light rain over the weekend and with no further rain expected this week, the cherry blossoms can be expected to stay in their best viewing period until around Thursday.

For anyone planning to visit the park in the next few days, note that admission is free until April 8 and that many of the trees will be illuminated from sunset until 21:30 during the same period.

A watchtower of Kanazawa Castle, directly across from the park
Cherry blossoms along a castle wall
View of the famous two-legged Kotojitoro Lantern
Blossoms over one of the many ponds
Looking across the city from the eastern edge of the park
Blossoms and moss
The park got busy quickly
View of a distinctive itabashi-style bridge
A long branch with lots of blossoms
The water in the park distinctly enhances the look of the blossoms
Looking across the Hisagoike Pond
The branches were quite consistent throughout the garden
More Stories
Yoshino Report
Full Bloom
See All Stories

Questions? Ask in our forum.