What is the oldest tree in Kitamoto?
Kitamoto's only mapped tree is Ishito no Kaba-zakura, a natural hybrid of Edo Higan and Yamazakura cherries at Tokoji Temple, the only known specimen of this cross anywhere and one of Japan's Five Great Cherry Trees.
The tree stands on the grounds of Tokoji Temple in Ishito-shuku, reached by bus or taxi from JR Kita-Kounosu or Kitamoto Station, since no rail line reaches the temple directly. Free to visit, with festival parking added during the April bloom. Legend credits its planting to Minamoto no Noriyori, a 12th-century warrior nicknamed Kaba no Kanja, which gives the tree its name. It once had four trunks, but decades of soil compaction and the weight of ten stone memorial tablets placed at its roots reduced it to one by the 1960s and 70s; after the tablets were removed in 1973 the tree stopped flowering for ten years before blooming again in 1977. Kitamoto has treated the soil with liquid fertiliser since 2004 and expanded the protected ground around the tree in 2022 by buying the neighbouring plot outright. It has held National Natural Monument status since 1922, and it is counted among Japan's Five Great Cherry Trees.
See more themed collections of remarkable trees.