Shizuoka Cherry Blossom Guide: Best Sakura Spots

Kawazu-zakura

Kawazu, a small town quietly embraced at the southern tip of the Izu Peninsula. Every year when February arrives, people who love cherry blossoms begin to gather from all over the country to this town, where the messenger of spring reaches earliest in Japan. Its very protagonist is the native species "Kawazu-zakura." The spectacle of passionate pink petals -- one or two shades deeper than Somei-yoshino -- blooming in profusion along the Kawazu River for about 4 km is truly a Shangri-La appeared in this world.

Look up, and there is an arch of deep pink set against the crystal-clear blue winter sky. At your feet spreads the vivid yellow of rape blossoms, and at the striking contrast of those colors, the hand pressing the shutter cannot stop. A local grandfather narrowing his eyes as he looks up at the flowers, saying "they bloomed beautifully again this year" -- within such a casual scene, the affection for the cherry blossoms that this town has nurtured carefully over many years seeps out. Although it is a tourist destination, there is a warmth somewhere as if you are walking through a family's garden. That is the charm of Kawazu-zakura found nowhere else.

Peak Viewing Period

The typical peak is early February to early March (check the latest blooming status from time to time on the "Kawazu-zakura Festival" official website). The welcome thing about Kawazu-zakura is that it blooms 1 to 2 months earlier than Somei-yoshino and boasts a long blooming period of about one month. Even so, the peak of full bloom is only 1 to 2 weeks. When you feel "it's about time," check the blooming information frequently so as not to miss the best moment.

An especially recommended time slot is the early morning 8 to 9 o'clock hour. In the stillness before tourists begin moving in earnest, you can almost monopolize the dreamlike morning row of cherry trees where river mist drifts faintly. Bathed in the soft morning light, the pale gradation of the petals shines all the more beautifully, making it truly a golden time slot for photography lovers. You will surely feel the worth of rising early with your whole body.

📍 Access: Excellent access at about a 5-minute walk from "Kawazu Station" on the Izukyu line. From Tokyo Station, using the limited express "Odoriko" connects directly in about 2 hours 30 minutes, and during the cherry-blossom season extra trains are also added. By private car, temporary parking lots are opened in the surrounding area during the "Kawazu-zakura Festival" period, but on weekends they are mostly full even in the early morning. To enjoy the flowers without stress, we strongly recommend using public transportation.

Light-up

When night arrives during the festival period, the row of cherry trees along the Kawazu River shows a completely different face from the daytime. The night cherry blossoms illuminated by warm orange lights take on a somehow bewitching, serene beauty. Turning from the daytime gorgeousness, gazing at the cherry-blossom shadows swaying on the river surface, you are wrapped in a sensation as if the flow of time slowly slackens.

Indispensable to such a night stroll is "Shizuoka oden," available at local stalls. Strolling under the night cherry blossoms with a skewer of oden warmed in the dashi-fragrant black soup in one hand -- it is the most luxurious travel time imaginable. The light-up lighting time is roughly from sunset to around 9 p.m. (varies by year). Night in Izu gets quite cold, so be sure to prepare cold-weather gear such as a down jacket and gloves.

💡 Tips for travelers: A hidden spot I want to tell those who dislike crowds about is the area around the "Odoriko Onsen Kaikan." Compared to the main avenue, fewer people visit, and you can leisurely monopolize the cherry blossoms. Furthermore, if you extend your steps upstream from Kawazu Station, a simple, breathtaking landscape awaits where the satoyama scenery of the mountains and the cherry blossoms melt together. Whether to enjoy the liveliness in the bustling stall area or to be alone with the cherry blossoms on the quiet upstream promenade -- using them properly according to your mood and companions is "the correct way to enjoy Kawazu-zakura" that the locals taught me.

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Kunozan Toshogu

Kunozan Toshogu, enshrined like a palace in the sky atop a cliff overlooking Suruga Bay. Known as the land where Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu first came to rest, this shrine is a special place where the weight of history seems to quietly settle on your shoulders just by visiting. What suddenly spreads at the end of climbing, step by step, the 1,159 stone steps that form the path to the grounds -- commonly called the "Ichi-no-mon Slope" -- is a co-starring of solemn shrine buildings adorned in polychrome and cherry blossoms dyed pale pink. Everyone, before that spectacle, loses their words for a while.

Below is the jewel-like blue of Suruga Bay shining, and far in the distance the white ridgeline of snow-capped Mount Fuji. This panorama, woven by the trinity of history, nature, and cherry blossoms, is a one-of-a-kind spectacle you can meet only in Shizuoka, and only in this moment. Finding yourself muttering "I never expected such a view was waiting" -- that is the place called Kunozan Toshogu. The peak of cherry blossoms is typically late March to early April. The few weeks of spring when the grounds' cherry blossoms and the vermilion shrine buildings overlap are the most radiant season of the year.

Access

For access, the route using the Nihondaira Ropeway is by far recommended. From JR "Shizuoka Station," head to Nihondaira by bus (about 40 minutes), then about 5 minutes by ropeway. While the gondola crosses the sky, below spreads the green of the vast tea fields Shizuoka boasts and the sparkling blue of Suruga Bay. This aerial stroll alone is an experience that can already be called the highlight of the journey.

If you choose the stone-step route, take a bus from JR "Shizuoka Station" to the "Kunozan-shita" bus stop (about 30 minutes). The 1,159 stone steps continue at an unexpectedly steep grade, so be sure to come in sneakers or athletic shoes. The sense of accomplishment and the spectacular view when you finish climbing are etched deeply into your heart in proportion to your effort. By the way, the view of Suruga Bay begins to spread even partway up the stone steps, and there is the joy of the scenery changing each time you stop and look back.

💡 Tips for travelers: On weekends during the cherry-blossom season, the Nihondaira parking lot gets crowded from the morning. A weekday visit or aiming for the ropeway's first departure (in the 9 o'clock hour) is best. The best photo spot where you can capture the shrine buildings and cherry blossoms at once is the middle of the approach heading from the ropeway exit to the shrine buildings. The composition where vermilion and cherry-blossom pink overlap never grows tiring no matter how many you take. Furthermore, at the strawberry farms spreading at the foot of Kunozan, you can enjoy "strawberry picking" in early spring. If you bite into bright-red ripened strawberries after cherry-blossom viewing, it will become a fulfilling day where you can experience Shizuoka's spring with all five senses, fully satisfying both sight and taste.

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Sunpu Castle

Sunpu Castle Park, standing imposingly in the center of Shizuoka City, is the site of the residence castle where the ruler of the realm, Tokugawa Ieyasu, spent his final years. It is a place where, when you actually visit, you can really feel with your whole body that name that appears in history textbooks. When spring comes, about 600 cherry trees planted within the park burst into bloom all at once, and against the backdrop of the vermilion of the restored Tatsumi Turret and East Gate and the dignified gray of the stone walls, pale-pink petals dance. Even if you are not a history lover, your feet will naturally stop before that scenery, and you will surely be unable to move for a while.

Although it is a tourist spot, an air that might well be called "Shizuoka's spring itself" flows here. Families spreading out sheets and unpacking lunch boxes, groups of students laughing under the cherry blossoms, elderly people quietly looking up at the flowers -- there is a generosity in which travelers, too, can naturally blend into that scene where each enjoys spring at their own pace. Rather than sightseeing with a guidebook in hand, the time spent simply lying on the lawn while idly looking up at the cherry blossoms may be the essence of Sunpu Castle Park. The peak of cherry blossoms is typically late March to early April.

Surrounding Gourmet

Since you are visiting Shizuoka, you will want your cherry-blossom-viewing gourmet, too, to be distinctly Shizuoka. At Aoba Yokocho and Aoba Oden Street within walking distance of the park, you can savor Shizuoka oden, whose pride is its jet-black rich dashi, shoulder to shoulder with local regulars. The casual conversation exchanged with a skewer in hand will surely make your journey richer.

In the surroundings are scattered shops offering gourmet using genuine wasabi from Izu and sweets shops using tea carefully grown with spring water from the foot of Mount Fuji, so you can enjoy half a day just eating around. If you want to prepare your own cherry-blossom-viewing lunch, the boxed-lunch and prepared-foods corner in the basement of the Shizuoka Station building "ASTY Shizuoka" is substantial, so drop in before departure. Carefully selected items using Shizuoka-produced ingredients are all there, and your travel mood rises from the very choosing of a lunch box.

📍 Access: About a 15-minute walk from the north exit of "Shizuoka Station" on JR and the Tokaido Shinkansen, or get off right at "Shiyakusho-mae" by bus. Access by Shinkansen is also very good, and using the "Hikari" from Tokyo Station it is within about 1 hour, a distance you can casually day-trip. Even using the "Kodama" it is about 1 hour, with excellent access from along the Shinkansen line.

💡 Tips for travelers: On weekend daytimes it bustles greatly with local families and flower-viewers, but if you visit in the early morning 7 to 8 o'clock hour, you can almost monopolize the cherry blossoms dyed by the morning sun and the quiet park. The luxury of gazing at the cherry blossoms before the empty stone walls in the soft morning light is a reward only for those who rose early. At night a light-up is also held (check the period and lighting times on the official website), and the contrast of the stone walls floating up golden and the night cherry blossoms shows a face entirely different from the daytime. Choose easy-to-walk shoes for strolling, and since it can get cold at night, it is reassuring to tuck a thin outer layer into your bag. Note that Sunpu Castle Park has free admission (the interior of the turrets is paid), so the fact that you can casually drop in any number of times whenever you feel like it is one of the reasons it is long loved by the locals.