Hirosaki: Approaching Full Bloom

My cherry blossom reporting continues in the Tohoku Region, and today I visited Hirosaki Castle Park, one of the most famous cherry blossom viewing spots in Japan as well as a personal favourite of mine. There are about 2600 cherry trees of a number of varieties in the castle park, and while the mainstream Somei Yoshino cherry blossom season lasts for about a week or so, there are still plenty of other cherry blossom varietals to see before and after the main season.

The season officially started on April 17, when the opening of the first blossoms were announced. Five days since that announcement, today, I observed that the mainstream Somei Yoshino blossoms in the castle park were at their best viewing. Today, I observed that the cherry trees along the eastern side of the outer moat were at full bloom, while the north and western sides of the outer moat were only hours or a day away from reaching achieving the same status. On the castle grounds itself, many of the mainstream cherry trees looked like they needed 1-2 days to reach full bloom.

Rain is forecast for tomorrow, but cherry blossoms tend to be relatively sturdy in the first few days after opening. As such, I do not expect tomorrow's rain to have a negative impact on the longevity of the blossoms. Consequently, the best viewing at Hirosaki Castle is expected to continue through till early next week, and the petals falling - another highlight at the castle park - is predicted to start from this coming weekend.

Until May 5, there is a cherry blossom festival at Hirosaki Castle Park. Festival food stalls can be found on the park grounds, especially around the northern side. The park is also lit up in the evening from sunset till 22:00 during the festival.