Tohoku in Spring

Hirosaki Castle (弘前城) in Aomori Prefecture is the major cherry blossom destination for visitors who miss the bloom further south, with the 2,600 cherry trees in the park around the castle typically reaching peak bloom in the last week of April (around two to three weeks later than Tokyo or Kyoto) and the famous pink 花筏 (hanaikada) petal carpet turning the moats completely pink in the first week of May.

The first trees were planted in 1715, when the Tsugaru clan brought them from Kyoto to the castle grounds, and the keep is one of only 12 surviving original Edo period castle towers in Japan and a National Important Cultural Property.

The festival usually falls between late April and early May, typically around April 23 to May 5 with the exact dates shifting on bloom conditions, and the 2026 edition runs April 17 to May 5.

The cherry varieties (52 in total) are pruned using techniques borrowed from local apple farming (Aomori is Japan's largest apple producing prefecture), producing four to five flowers per bud rather than the usual three to four and giving the blossoms a denser, cloudlike appearance.

The viewpoint from Gejo Bridge takes in the castle keep, the cherry blossoms in front and Mt. Iwaki (the "Tsugaru Fuji") rising behind in a single composition. The keep is currently in a temporary position before its move back to the original foundation in July 2026, which makes 2026 the last year for this trinity view in this exact form.

Rowboats can be rented on the west moat during the festival, and evening illumination runs from sunset to 10pm with the keep itself lit and reflected in the moat below.

Hirosaki Station is around 45 minutes from Aomori Station, with a ¥100 loop bus to the park.

If you can only see cherry blossoms in Japan once, Hirosaki in late April is worth making the trip for.

Kakunodate (角館) in Akita Prefecture is nicknamed the "Little Kyoto of Tohoku" for its preserved Edo period samurai district, with around 80 samurai residences from the 17th century lining the main Buke Yashiki street and designated an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

The weeping cherry trees (shidarezakura) along the street are held by local tradition to descend from three saplings carried up from Kyoto around 360 years ago in the dowry of the wife of Satake Yoshiaki, second lord of the Kakunodate branch of the Satake clan, who came from the Sanjonishi family of the capital, although no contemporary record survives to confirm the story.

Around 400 weeping cherries stand in the district today, 162 of them designated National Natural Monuments, and the oldest go back to plantings made at the samurai houses from about 1656.

The cascading branches over the black wooden fences of the samurai residences give the street its distinctive spring image, with the Kakunodate Cherry Blossom Festival running April 15 to May 5 in 2026 and peak bloom typically falling in late April through Golden Week.

There is no charge to enter the viewing areas, and food stalls line the approach streets through the festival period. Several samurai houses including the Ishiguro House and the Aoyagi House museum complex are open to visitors.

The riverbank along the Hinokinai River 5 minutes' walk from the samurai district has a separate 2 kilometre Somei Yoshino tunnel of around 400 trees designated a Place of Scenic Beauty by the national government.

Evening illumination starts at 5:30pm each day of the festival and runs until around 10pm on the samurai street and around midnight along the Hinokinai River embankment, with Semboku City counting around 864,000 visitors over the 2024 festival.

JR Kakunodate Station is around 3 hours from Tokyo on the Akita Shinkansen and around 45 to 50 minutes from Akita.

Around 10,000 cherry trees of 150 varieties line a 2 kilometre stretch of the Kitakami River at Kitakami Tenshochi (北上展勝地) in southern Iwate Prefecture, a riverside park established in 1920, with the branches forming an unbroken canopy over the path and 300 carp streamers (koinobori) suspended across the river in a colourful row above the cherry blossoms in the lead up to Children's Day on May 5.

The Kitakami Tenshochi Sakura Festival runs April 10 to 29 in 2026, with bloom typically peaking in late April (around 2 to 3 weeks after Tokyo) and the varieties blooming in sequence from Yoshino cherries in mid April through Kasumizakura in early May to give a longer viewing season than most spots, and by the end of April the ground beneath the corridor is deep in fallen petals.

Horse drawn carriage rides under the cherry tree canopy run during the festival, and the trees are illuminated from 6pm to 8pm in the evening, their reflection spreading across the river surface.

River boat cruises are usually a popular option but have been suspended for the 2026 festival pending safety review.

北上コロッケ (Kitakami Croquette), made with locally produced beef, pork, taro and asparagus, is the food most associated with the festival and is sold from stalls throughout the grounds.

The park covers 293 hectares and is one of the Michinoku Three Great Cherry Blossom Spots alongside Hirosaki Castle in Aomori and Kakunodate in Akita, as well as one of Japan's Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots. Admission is free.

JR Kitakami Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen is around 2.5 hours from Tokyo, with the park a 20 minute walk from the station's east exit.

Go at dusk, when the lights come on and the carp streamers are still moving above the river.

Sansai are as central to Tohoku's spring as they are to Hokkaido's, but the tradition here is older and more codified.

Across the mountain communities of Iwate, Yamagata and Akita, spring foraging follows routes and rules passed down through families, and the range is wider, with kogomi, warabi, taranome, koshiabura and shidoke.

The connection to the mountains is partly religious, since the 出羽三山 (Dewa Sanzan) pilgrimage in Yamagata carries a 精進料理 (shojin ryori) tradition in which sansai do the work meat and fish would do elsewhere, and the temple lodgings at Haguro still serve it that way in spring.

Practically it means Tohoku cooks sansai more seriously than it fries it. Bitterness is drawn out in ash or rice water, stalks are salted for the year ahead, and the same plant is treated differently depending on the week it was picked.

Fuki is eaten across Japan but Tohoku has a version of its own. 秋田ふき (Akita fuki) is a giant strain that grows to well over a metre and occasionally to two, thick enough that the old tourist photographs of the Akita countryside show people standing beneath the leaves.

The stalks are cut in spring, peeled, and simmered in a sweet soy broth as きゃらぶき, or cooked down with miso, and the flower buds, ふきのとう (fukinoto), are picked earlier still as the snow retreats and fried as tempura for their sharp bitterness.

The texture is fibrous and the flavour is bitter in a way that takes some getting used to, which is exactly why it reads as spring to people who grew up with it.

Most of it is preserved rather than eaten fresh, so the jars turn up in Akita's markets all year.

桜鱒 (Sakuramasu / cherry salmon) is the sea run form of the masu trout, and it takes its name from the season it comes home. The fish spend a year or so in the sea and return to the rivers of northern Japan in spring, around the time the cherry blossom is out.

In Yamagata it is the prefectural fish, and the rivers that run into the Sea of Japan, the 最上川 (Mogami) above all, have long been known for it.

The flesh is a soft pink with a fine grain and just enough fat, and it is usually eaten simply, grilled with salt or with a little miso, which suits its clean, delicate flavour better than richer sauces.

In spring it turns up on ryokan and restaurant menus around Yamagata and Shonai, and it is worth asking for whenever you see it written up.