10,000 Cherry Trees That Are Grown Carefully Are in Full Bloom over One-Month Period -Matsumae Cherry Blossom Festival-

Matsumae town (松前) is adjacent to Fukushima town at the southernmost tip of Hokkaido. It takes about one and a half hours from Hakodate city to the Matsumae town by a car. The Matsumae town has a long history of about 600 years and is known for seeing beautiful cherry trees. 250 kinds of 10,000 cherry trees are planted around Matsumae Castle (松前城 * Fukuyama Castle (福山城)), and all trees seem to have each wooden name tags. Matsumae people will cherish the cherry trees.

From late April to late May, early blooming cherry trees such as Nanden cherry tree (南殿), Yoshino cherry tree (染井吉野), Snow white cherry tree (白雪姫) are in bloom, mid blooming cherry tree such as Itokukuri cherry tree (糸括), Amayado cherry tree (雨宿), Shogetsu cherry tree (松月) are in bloom, late blooming cherry tree such as Fugenzo cherry tree (普賢象), Matsumae shirakinu cherry tree (松前白絹), Sekiyama cherry tree (関山) are in bloom sequentially. It is a rare sightseeing spot in Japan that tourists can enjoy the cherry trees during a month. The tourists should look at the cherry trees called three major cherry trees such as Kechimyaku cherry tree (血脈桜) at Kozenji Temple (光善寺), Meoto (Couple) cherry tree (夫婦桜) at Matsumae park (松前公園) and Yezo Kasumi cherry tree (蝦夷霞桜) at Ryuunin temple (龍雲院) particularly .

"Cherry Blossom Festival (さくらまつり)" is held from late April to mid May, and the program such as Musha parade and folk entertainment are shown. About 180,000 tourists visit here every year. The area is quite large, and the tourists should visit many places such as Matsumae Clan Mansion (松前藩屋敷), Matsumae Teramachi (松前寺町), Houkuohirin (北鴎碑林) as well as Matsumae (Fukuyama) Castle. It will take 2 hours on foot even if the tourists go round the site slowly. There are a tourist information center and a souvenir shop in the site, too. A cherry blossom soft serve ice cream is sold for JPY 300 and is tasty with sweet-sour floavor.

Atmosphere of Matsumae Cherry Blossom Festival Can Be Watched on Youtube

Movie of Matsumae Cherry Blossom Festival

Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations in Matsumae.

Onsen Ryokan Yano(温泉旅館 矢野)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Tanbaya(丹波屋)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Ryokan Yokohamaso(旅館よこはま荘)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Ryokan Miura(旅館みうら)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Minshuku Hamabe(民宿はまべ)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten

Booking.com

A page of Matsumae is here

A page of Hokkaido Cherry Tree is here