Yoshino-yama

Yoshino Mountain is a short distance south of Nara. Yoshino is famed for its cherry trees. There are hundreds of trees on the mountainside.

This is quite different from the cities, where trees have been planted in parks and along the streets. I am not certain if the Yoshino cherry trees are “wild”, or if they have been cultivated.

Along with the cherry trees, the village on the mountain also has Japan’s second-largest wooden structure, in the form of another temple.

Yoshino-yama is an interesting place to see the cherry trees, but, in some ways, Kyoto is better. It has more variety of trees. At Yoshino, the trees have mostly small, white-colored flowers; in Kyoto, the flowers range from white to pink, and come in many different sizes and shapes.

The Lonely Planet guidebook has incomplete information about the village. It describes how to get there, and mentions the short cablecar that takes you partway up to the village. From the top of the cablecar, it is a long slog to where the hotels are. It does not mention that there is a shuttle bus which will take you much, much closer to where you want to go, and also stops at a few points where you could begin sightseeing.

I took the cablecar up, and then had to carry all of my stuff to the hotel. For the return journey, I used the much more convenient bus.