Tsuruga Castle and a variety of cherry trees

The mainstream Somei Yoshino cherry blossom season is in full swing in the Tohoku Region, and today I visited Aizu-Wakamatsu City in inland Fukushima Prefecture to check on the state of the blossoms. I visited Tsuruga Castle, a popular cherry blossom viewing spot in the city, and found the cherry blossoms to be at the tail end of their best viewing. Even though there were areas where the cherry blossoms were at their peak, a number of cherry trees had already lost a significant amount of petals, while some trees were sprouting green leaves. I expect the best viewing to end in a day or two, especially since there is some rain and windy conditions forecast for the middle of this week.

The cherry trees on the Tsuruga Castle grounds are illuminated from sunset to 21:30 (until 21:00 when the cherry blossoms have all opened) until May 6.

As the mainstream cherry blossom season has mostly ended in many cities west of Tokyo, those who still want to catch the cherry blossoms should start looking farther north. The estimated best viewing information for the major cities in northeastern Japan can be found on our cherry blossom forecast page. Follow along here to keep up with the latest updates as we bring on-site sakura reports from the Tohoku Region.

A row of cherry trees at the base of the main castle keep
Walking on the castle walls and enjoying the views
It was a beautiful day to be out
State of the blossoms. You can see the remaining red stems after the petals have fallen off
Best views for me were around the moat by the Ninomaru area
Still life
Cannot resist a red bridge picture
Full bloom by the moat near the Ninomaru area
This area is illuminated in the evenings, and there are chairs for resting here
These branches have lost some petals
Cherry tree walkway
A beautiful weeping cherry tree at full bloom
Plenty of space to rest and enjoy the flowers
The cherry trees just north of the main castle keep are definitely past their peak
The reddish hues are from the remaining stems
Still a good day for picnicking
Not many petals and blossoms left here
Memories of seeing this place at full bloom once
Just enough blossoms for a hanami (cherry blossom viewing) picnic
One last look at the castle with sakura
All good things die eventually
The general state of most trees in the city
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