Mount Yoshino

The cherries on Yoshino were not planted for their looks. The mountain is a centre of Shugendo, the mountain ascetic tradition, and the cherry is sacred to its principal deity; pilgrims planted trees as votive offerings over the course of more than a millennium, and the accumulation is around thirty thousand of them, overwhelmingly the wild yamazakura rather than the cloned somei-yoshino that dominates modern Japan. Because yamazakura vary individually and the mountain rises, the bloom moves up the slope in four bands over roughly two weeks - shimo, naka, kami and oku senbon, lower to upper thousand - so a visit at any point in April catches part of it. Kinpusen-ji, whose main hall is one of the largest wooden structures in the country, stands halfway up, and the whole mountain is part of the Kii mountain range UNESCO inscription.

Highlights

• Thirty thousand cherries - planted as religious offerings over a thousand years.
• Four bands of bloom - the flowering moving up the slope over about two weeks.
• Wild yamazakura - individually varied, unlike the cloned trees elsewhere.
• Kinpusen-ji - a Shugendo temple with one of Japan's largest wooden halls.

When to go

Early to late April, choosing the band by date. A day, or two to walk the upper slopes.

Before you go

April crowds are extreme and accommodation on the mountain books months ahead. The village street is steep and long. Outside the bloom the mountain is quiet to the point of empty. Ropeway operation has been suspended at times - check.

Nearby

Nara city is north; Koyasan is west across the mountains.

Key facts