Continuing our bus tour, we next stopped at Yoshinoyama, a mountainous area in Nara, at around 10am or so. The bus parked in a shopping center of sorts off of Nara Prefectural Road 15, and we began our trek towards Nanamagari street. When we reached it, we could see a long swath of blooming cherry trees on the hillside below us. What we were looking at was Shimo-senbon, or the lower level of the thousand trees. If you check the map you will see that this is the lowest cherry tree viewing area. Above this one is Hitome-senbon, then Naka-senbon, then Kami-senbon, and lastly there is one more called Oku-senbon.
Japan lore records that the first trees on these sloping hillsides were planted more than 1300 years ago, and more and more were added during the subsequent centuries. Today the mountain is covered by roughly 30,000 cherry trees of many different varieties.
Our tour put us on the road to get to any and all of them, but we had to consider that we had to be back at the bus by a certain time in the afternoon. So, we decided to concentrate on getting to Naka-senbon, which is in the middle of them all, as its name suggests.
So we proceeded up the road, which initially was fairly sparse of activity except for a couple of snack kiosks. But as we got further along, shops of all kinds started to appear at the side of the road. Souvenir shops, craft shops, snacks, and restaurants lined the road. After walking for a half hour we noticed we were being overtaken by more people coming from the rear. More tour buses no doubt!
Soon we arrived at Ohashi Bridge, which has some historical significance. It was the location of a battle during the Kamakura Period in Japanese history. You'll see a sign that explains it in more detail, but in the end it is just a cute little bridge, there for you to take nice pictures!
You will notice that there are a few temples nestled into these beautiful hills, and you may want to stop and look, which is fine. But we were not here for the temples - we were here for the sakura!
And we were not disappointed! Large swaths of blooming cherry trees could be seen from the road as we approached Naka-sembon. To get to the point where you are actually walking amongst the trees you have to leave the road on a path down into a valley of sorts. It's a pleasant short walk to the heart of Naka-sembon, at which you will find a couple of signs indicating its status as a World Heritage Site.
There are numerous paths on the hillside that you can take to explore the area, and get some great pictures. I walked down one of those paths and moved to the side to just sit down and soak in the beauty of this place.
As I mentioned, it seemed to be getting more crowded, and that became evident on the walk back towards the bus. The road was teeming with people coming in our direction. We wanted to grab lunch before we returned to the bus, and after a 45 minute wait in line, we were finally seated. We were lucky to get a table right next to the window, where we could see the blanket of cherry blossoms covering the hillside.
After lunch we made our way back to the bus, stopping for some snacks along the way. One vendor was selling roasted chestnuts, while another was selling candy covered fruit. Perfect desserts to top off our tour of Yoshinoyama.
Just a final note on getting here. If you take the train, you likely arrived at Yoshino station. From there it is a different route to get to the sakura hillsides. You have two options. One is to walk from the station to Nanamagari Street and just follow it up the hill. It's a winding path that takes you directly into Shimo-senbon.
The other is to walk over to the ropeway, which is a gondola that will take you up the hillside to the upper portion of Nanamagari Street beyond Ohashi Bridge. I think if we had come by train we would have tried the gondola coming up the hill, and then walked down the hill, through Shimo-senbon, on the return to the station.
However you decide to get here, you will be very impressed with the beauty of this place during cherry blossom time. Happy trails!
Location
Vocabulary
Flash Card Drill-
We drove through a mountainous region on our way to the village.私たちは村へ向かう途中、山岳地帯を車で通り抜けました。
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The area is mountainous, so travel can be difficult in winter.その地域は山岳のため、冬の移動は大変なことがあります。
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A swath of flowers stretched across the field.花の帯が野原いっぱいに広がっていました。
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We could see a swath of trees on the hillside.私たちは斜面に広がる木々の帯を見ることができました。
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The houses were built on the hillside.その家々は斜面に建てられていました。
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Cherry trees covered the hillside in pink blossoms.桜の木が斜面をピンクの花で覆っていました。
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We decided to concentrate on the middle section of the garden.私たちは庭の中央部分に集中することにしました。
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I need to concentrate if I want to finish this work on time.この仕事を時間内に終えるには、集中する必要があります。
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A group of hikers overtook us on the trail.ハイカーの一団が私たちを道で追い越しました。
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The faster bus overtook the slower one.速いバスが遅いバスを追い越しました。
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The bridge has historical significance.その橋には歴史的な重要性があります。
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I did not understand the significance of the sign at first.私は最初、その標識の重要性が分かりませんでした。
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A small temple nestles among the trees.小さなお寺が木々の間にひっそりと点在しています。
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The village is nestled in a valley between the mountains.その村は山々に囲まれた谷間にひっそりと佇んでいる。
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We walked down into the valley.私たちは谷へと下っていきました。
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The river flows through the valley.その川は谷を流れています。
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The market teemed with visitors.市場は訪問者でごった返していました。
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The road teemed with people on the holiday.その道は休日に人でごった返していました。
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We took the ropeway to the top of the hill.私たちは丘の上までロープウェイに乗りました。
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The ropeway offered a beautiful view of the city below.ロープウェイからは下の街の美しい景色が見えました。