Cherry Blossoms

Japan’s Top 100 Blossoms: Maruoka Castle Park (Fukui)

Travel

Maruoka Castle was built in 1576 and is among the oldest of the 12 surviving castles from Japan’s premodern era. A park has been built around the castle, which has been designated an important cultural property. The keep appears to float in a mist of cherry blossoms when the flowers are in full bloom.
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Maruoka Castle is also known as Kasumigajō (“Mist Castle”) because of a legend that it was shielded from a Sengoku-period attack by mist generated by a giant serpent living in a castle well. The magnificent “mist” visitors see today is not created by a serpent, though, but by the hundreds of somei yoshino trees growing around the castle.

Maruoka Castle Park (Fukui)

  • Variety: Somei yoshino
  • No. of trees: 400
  • When: Early to mid-April
  • Hours: Open 24 hrs. (Castle 8:30–17:00)
  • Admission: ¥450 to enter castle
  • Address: 1-59 Kasumi-chō, Maruoka-chō, Sakai-shi, Fukui
  • Website: Sightseeing guide of Sakai City

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(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Sakai City Tourist Federation.)

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