Kakunodate: Petals Starting To Fall

Three days on from Raina's visit to Hirosaki, today I took a trip to Kakunodate - a former castle town in Akita Prefecture known for its beautifully preserved samurai residences and as one of the very best cherry blossom viewing destinations in the Tohoku Region.

An interesting detail here that adds to the area's beauty while somewhat extending its viewing season is the makeup of its trees, with about 400 weeping cherry blossom trees in the old samurai district and a similar number of the more typical Somei Yoshino type lining the banks of the nearby Hinokinai River.

The weeping cherry blossoms tend to reach their best somewhat ahead of Somei Yoshino and were already well past their best at the time of my visit. The Somei Yoshino meanwhile - though right at the end of its peak viewing window - was still just thick and vibrant enough to create some beautiful scenes along the riverbank. Rain predicted for tomorrow will likely strip away a lot of the remaining petals, marking the end of the viewing season.

Food stalls can be found in a parking lot by the riverside until around the end of best viewing. For those planning to visit in the evening, illuminations will continue in the samurai district from 17:30 to 22:00 and along the Hinokinai Riverbank from 17:30 to 24:00 until May 5.

My first stop was in the old samurai district, with its wide avenues and neat rows of walled gardens shaded by dozens of tall trees. While the scenery was livened up here and there by the odd Somei Yoshino or later-blooming variety, the weeping cherry blossoms that really set the tone here were already looking very sparse and muted.

I rounded off my visit with a second stop along the nearby Hinokinai River. Here the rows of Somei Yoshino cherry blossom trees were beginning to thin out noticeably and a few petals could already be seen here and there on the breeze, but the overall impression was still attractive.