Kitakami Onsen

Kitakami Onsen is situated in Kitakami, a city on the Kitakami River in central Iwate Prefecture celebrated throughout Japan for Tenshochi Park, one of the country's most spectacular cherry blossom viewing destinations, where approximately 10,000 weeping cherry trees (shidarezakura) line a two-kilometer stretch of the Kitakami River's western bank, creating a cascade of pink blossoms that arches over the riverside promenade in an breathtaking display that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors during the brief peak bloom period each April. The city's flat riverside setting and its position at the confluence of agricultural and wooded terrain typical of the Kitakami Highlands creates a pleasant urban landscape that comes brilliantly alive each spring when the cherry trees transform the riverbanks into Japan's most celebrated weeping cherry corridor. The onsen here provide silica-rich mineral bathing that offers perfect relaxation before or after the cherry blossom season's intensive sightseeing, in a city whose spring identity is inseparable from the extraordinary visual spectacle of its riverside bloom.