Mt. Yoshino

Mt. Yoshino is one of Japan’s most beautiful areas for seeing cherry blossoms and it is said even the great Toyotomi Hideyoshi came here to view the cherries. The cherries, which number some 30 thousand in total, are divided into areas – the Shimosenbon (Lower 1,000 Trees), Nakasenbon (Middle 1,000 Trees), Kamisenbon (Upper 1,000 Trees), and Okusenbon (Inner 1,000 Trees). The trees gradually come into blossom starting with the Shimosenbon, eventually coloring the entire mountain with their flowers. The sight, praised since ancient times in countless waka poems, continues to captivate the hearts of throngs of people today. The mountain was designated a national Site of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site in 1924. In 2004, the sacred land extending from Mt. Yoshino and Mt. Koya to Kumano as well as the intervening pilgrimage routes were registered collectively as the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range World Heritage Site.