FEATURE

Japan's Best Cherry Blossom Spots ― From a Thousand Trees to Night Sakura

In Japan, spring arrives with the cherry blossoms. A whole mountainside turned pink, night sakura mirrored on a castle moat, a single old tree standing alone in a tea field ― the word 'sakura' holds a hundred different faces, and each place wears its own. Here, in order of bloom, are the places that moved me most, gathered on the days between shifts in the emergency room.

The first of spring ― February's early cherries

For anyone who cannot wait for the blossom front, the early cherries of February are the place to start. Along the Kawazu River in Izu, Shizuoka, the Kawazu cherry blossoms bloom deep pink beside golden rape flowers, bringing Japan's earliest word of spring. In Atami the Atami cherry catches the sunrise, and along the rivers of Tokyo and Chiba you can frame Kawazu cherries against the Skytree. Blooming a step ahead of the Somei-yoshino, these February blossoms feel like a reward for surviving the long winter.

Full bloom ― mountains and old capitals in pink

From late March into April the cherries reach their peak. On Mount Yoshino in Nara, some thirty thousand wild cherries climb the slopes, and together with the World Heritage shrines and temples they earn the old name hitome-senbon, 'a thousand trees at a glance.' For a story in a single tree, seek out the Ushijiro Mizume cherry, standing alone on a tea-field slope in Shimada, Shizuoka. A three-hundred-year-old tree floating in the dawn mist is the living spirit of the cherry itself.

Blooming after dark ― the night sakura

Some cherries only begin once the sun has set. At Chidorigafuchi in central Tokyo, blossoms lit on a rainy night are mirrored on the moat, an unreal scene for the heart of the city. In the celebrated garden of Rikugien a weeping cherry some fifteen metres tall hangs in the dark like a pale-pink waterfall, while the weeping cherry of Joenji in Nishi-Shinjuku sets an old Edo-higan tree against the skyscrapers ― a frame only Tokyo could offer.

One word, sakura ―
yet the colour of spring changes with the place.

Photographing the cherries ― season and mindset

Cherry season shifts widely with region and altitude: the early February blooms, the Somei-yoshino of late March to early April, and the late mountain cherries beyond. Blooming follows the temperature, and full bloom lasts only a few days, so always check local forecasts before you set out. Soft morning and evening light, or a lightly overcast 'blossom-cloud' sky, lets the pink sink in deep; clear blue skies render the flowers bright and white. For settings and craft see how to photograph flower landscapes, and for misty or golden-hour days, shooting morning mist and the magic hour.

🌸 A branch of spring, on your wall all year

From Yoshino's mountain cherries to the night sakura of Chidorigafuchi, bring home the blossoms that stay with you as a true silver-halide print on FUJICOLOR's finest professional paper. Framed-ready, shipped worldwide.

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