Maruyama Park - Under the Night Cherry

Photo: 663highland, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Kyoto: Higashiyama and Gion on Foot, a free self-guided tour.

Maruyama Park opened in 1886, making it the oldest public park in Kyoto. Its ponds, streams and winding paths at the foot of the Higashiyama hills are linked to Ogawa Jihei VII, the garden designer behind many of Kyoto's finest modern gardens.

The tree everyone comes to see stands near the center: the Gion weeping cherry, its long branches resting on wooden props. The first tree here lived about two centuries and died in 1947. A cherry specialist, Sano Toemon XV, had raised seedlings from its seeds, and in 1949 one was planted in its place - the tree you see now. In early April the park fills with picnic parties on blue tarps, and the cherry is lit up at night.

Out of season this is a calm place to rest your legs. In the southeast corner, look for the bronze statue of Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro, two samurai who worked to end shogun rule and were assassinated together in Kyoto in 1867.

Getting here: Return to Nene-no-michi and follow it north about five minutes until it opens into Maruyama Park; head for the big weeping cherry near the center.

Did you know?: The park sits right beside Chion-in, whose massive Sanmon gate, just to the north, is one of the largest temple gates in Japan.

Photo op: Stand on the path south of the weeping cherry to fit the whole canopy and its wooden supports; in spring, come at dawn or after dark when it is lit.

More on Wikipedia: Maruyama Park · Sakamoto Ryoma · Nakaoka Shintaro

Maruyama Park - Under the Night Cherry

Stops on this tour