Back in April, I traveled to Osaka for a six day vacation. It's my first time in the Kansai region, and on our very first day we decided to chase what was left of the lingering cherry blossom season at Mt. Yoshino (吉野山, Yoshino-yama).
View from Yoshimizu Shrine
We found out after we reached Yoshino station there was a Limited Express train available. So moral of the story - do all your research before you head out for a day trip in Japan! During my entire trip there I would say we finally felt comfortable navigating the transportation on our last two days - it's seriously confusing.
We decided to go to Mt. Yoshino because it's one of Japan's most popular Cherry Blossom viewing locations. The mountain has thousands of cherry blossom trees along the journey up the mountain. Personally I found Mt. Yoshino very walkable after departing Yoshino station, as there is a walking path as you ascend the mountain. There are four areas, and the furthest we made it to was the second area - the middle section Naka Senbon - spending approximately 4-5 hours there.
As you walk up the path there are many sites to see along the way. Right outside the station, there's a multitude of stands selling goods and a small restaurant that serves vegetable based dishes. Normally there is a ropeway you can take up the slope, but it was closed the day we went. They offered buses up to the middle section if you don't feel like walking.
Cherry Blossoms along the path up
There definitely weren't too many cherry blossoms left the day (April 9th) we were there. However, the forests in the Nara Prefecture are definitely something to experience. The trees there are absolutely beautiful and have a wide range of colors. Once you hit the town there are less trees upclose but you can catch some good views along the way.
entering the base of Yoshino town
One of the shop fronts
The town itself is small but cute - it's sprinkled with traditional-styled houses and shops with goodies specific to the town and the prefecture. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures of the shops but they have quite a bit of shops selling pickled vegetables, honey, and sakura flavored items. I found the people there to be friendly and good-natured. I didn't pick up the name of this store, but if you're interested in honey and picked vegetables, I recommend purchasing from the shop to the left of to a tea shop called TSUJIMURA&Cafe kiton. The shop appears to be family owned, and the workers were friendly and humorous. As for the tea shop, I picked up some really good hojicha and sencha for about 800 yen each.
Soybean Ice Cream
Agedashi Tofu
Hamburger Sampler
"Hamburger" Meal set at Tofu Chaya Hayashi
For lunch we ate at a tofu house, Tofu Chaya Hayashi. All their food items had a tofu base, and my favorites were the soybean ice cream and hamburger meal set. The hamburger really tasted meat-like and was super savory. Also I believe fresh meat seems hard to come by in the area; alot of the restaurants in the town were vegetarian. I did see a couple preserved sushi stands, which further confirms my belief that meat is a bit harder to find in the area.
Entrance to the Kinpusenji Temple
Zao-do Hall
Close-up of the hall (I like zooming into building details)
3 story pagoda
As for sight-seeing, we saw Kinpusenji Temple along our way. The temple is part of the Shugendō religion that is said to combine Shinto and Buddhist beliefs. Zao-do hall is part of the temple, and is the second largest wooden structure compared to Tōdai-ji in Nara. However, I also saw Tōdai-ji later in my trip, and had no idea about the Zao-do hall until afterwards because Tōdai-ji was honestly monumental. The temple also has a three-story pagoda behind the hall. You can have a nice little stroll, and see some interesting figurines in display. Coincidentally I also saw the biggest bugs I've ever seen too haha!
View from Yoshimizu Shrine (Imagine it covered with cherry blossoms!)
Lastly, we stopped by Yoshimizu Shrine. It's a great viewpoint to capture the forest at it's potential, especially during Cherry Blossom season. The first picture of this post is a untouched photo from the view. P.S.- just google some pictures of the view and you'll see what I mean!.
The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Go-daigo; I believe he temporarily lived there because there's a couple signs about the ponds and certain things in the shrine relating to him and the imperial family.
After the shrine we made our way back down as the sun was setting and the shops were closing. I really enjoyed Mt. Yoshino, and would love to make the trek back here again to catch the Cherry Blossoms at their full glory. I end this post with more cherry blossoms I captured during this day-trip!
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