Ticket needed. Paid entry to Jisso-ji Temple grounds during blossom season (approx 500 yen adult, per Japanese-language tourism sources); free rest of year per some listings, so check locally. Grounds are open to the public.
Jindai-zakura (Yamataka Jindai Zakura)
traditionally estimated 1,800-2,000 yearsHigan Cherry
In October 1922 Japan named its first National Natural Monuments. Five single trees were on that list, and this cherry was one of them. It is also counted among the Three Great Cherry Trees of Japan, with Miharu Takizakura in Fukushima and Usuzumi-zakura in Gifu, both designated on the very same day. The age usually given is 1,800 to 2,000 years, tied to a legend that the warrior prince Yamato Takeru planted it. Treat that as a tradition rather than a finding. The prefecture's tourism board, the city of Hokuto and a government cultural publication all repeat the figure and none cites a dating method, and the trunk is too hollow and knotted to read reliably. What can be measured is the base: a root flare given as 11.8 metres round by the prefecture and 13.5 by other listings, under a tree only about 10 metres tall. It grows outward rather than up. It is an Edo-higan, the long-lived species behind many of Japan's oldest cherries, and the blossom is pale and drooping in early April. Bloom forecasters still track this individual tree season by season, which is how we know it is alive and watched. Seeds from it have reportedly been flown into space and grown on around the world. Jisso-ji charges around 500 yen during blossom season. Without a car it is a taxi from Hinoharu or Kobuchizawa.
The button above opens directions in your maps app. Nearest station is JR Chuo Main Line's Hinoharu, then taxi or the Hokuto municipal bus (Mukawa loop line) to the Jindai Koen stop; from Kobuchizawa station it is roughly a 30-minute taxi ride.
- Species
- Higan Cherry (Prunus subhirtella var. ascendens)
- Age estimate
- traditionally estimated 1,800-2,000 years
- Location
- Jisso-ji Temple, 2763 Yamataka, Takegawa-cho, Hokuto-shi, Yamanashi 408-0306, Japan (Yamataka, Hokuto)
- Access
- Paid entry to Jisso-ji Temple grounds during blossom season (approx 500 yen adult, per Japanese-language tourism sources); free rest of year per some listings, so check locally. Grounds are open to the public.
- Getting there
- Nearest station is JR Chuo Main Line's Hinoharu, then taxi or the Hokuto municipal bus (Mukawa loop line) to the Jindai Koen stop; from Kobuchizawa station it is roughly a 30-minute taxi ride.
Ticking this one off, walks past several more, and your collection growing city by city: that is the Ancient Trees app.
Get the appThis page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.
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