The first “Spring Cherry Blossom” I ever saw was the most beautiful.

The first “Spring Cherry Blossom” I ever saw was the most beautiful.

Hello everyone. I came to Minami-Ashigara City in Kanagawa Prefecture to see my first “Spring Cherry Blossom”. Today I plan to visit all the places famous for “Spring Cherry Blossom”, but first I will go to “Ichinoseki Harane” here.

As it turns out, today’s “Spring Cherry Blossom” was great. It might be the most beautiful of all the early blooming cherry trees like Kawazu-zakura. I felt that way partly because they were in full bloom, but also because they were more voluminous and fuzzy than other early blooming cherry trees.

It will definitely be on next year’s hanami list! I am so sad that I have never heard of “Spring Cherry Blossom” before. Spring Cherry Blossom” was registered as a variety in 2000 and originates from Minami-Ashigara City, also known as Ashigara-zakura.

It is said to have a sweet smell, but it is not like the plum blossom smell that covers the whole area, but rather a light fragrance when you put your nose close to it. These cherry blossoms bloom later than Kawazu-zakura and earlier than Someiyoshino.

This year the blossoms seem to be about a week later than usual. Today they are in full bloom. I am very happy because I cannot see any someiyoshino yet.

Today, I left my house at the foot of Mt. Fuji at 5:30 a.m. and arrived at the parking lot of the nearby sports park at 7:00 a.m.

On the way here from the parking lot, I stopped at Fukuzawa Park, which is on the cherry blossom map of Minami-Ashigara City, but there were only a few cherry trees and it was cloudy, so I did not take any video.

I left the house earlier than usual that day because the wind was supposed to pick up around 10:00, but I didn’t expect it to be cloudy😅 It was still cloudy when we arrived at Ichinoseki Harane, but after waiting about 15 minutes it cleared up beautifully😊

Today is March 18, 2024, and the current time is 8:00 a.m. It was worth coming early. So far the wind is hardly blowing. I don’t add background music to my videos, so when it’s windy, the wind noise is terrible.

Today is a perfect day to shoot, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and there is no wind. Some rapeseed blossoms are in bloom.

The “Spring Cherry Blossom” is a very beautiful cherry blossom, but I think it could use a little more impact, like a collaboration with the rapeseed blossoms that are blooming around it. Sorry to complain even though it’s free😅

I’m allowed to see such beautiful cherry blossoms and if I complain I’ll be a bumble 😱 Even though there are no rapeseed flowers, the chirping of the wild birds is the best. And the cherry blossoms all over the hillside are breathtaking!

This is what you call beginner’s luck, I came to see the spring cherry blossoms for the first time and saw the best spring cherry blossoms. Moved to the overpass. Cherry blossoms can be seen from a little higher up. This is a stunning view of the cherry blossoms.

It reminds me of Gongendo Sakura Tsutsumi in Saitama Prefecture. This year, when someiyoshino are in full bloom, the weather is not so good, so I am worried if I can visit all the cherry blossom viewing list. Anyway, I am grateful to have seen the “Spring Cherry Blossom” in full bloom.

When you put your nose close to it, it smells sweet. Fruity smell. Minami-Ashigara City is supposed to be Kintaro’s hometown, but I don’t know much about him😅 I don’t know why I remember the nursery rhyme “Kintaro the Masakari Carrier” so well 😅 From “Ichinoseki Harane” we come to “Haruki Path”.

This seems to be the main cherry blossom viewing spot, but unfortunately it seems to be before full bloom. And the cherry trees are small. It’s a shame in many ways, but I can see a little bit of Fuji, so let’s call it good.

I woke up at 5 this morning and came from the foot of this Fuji. I often come to Odawara, like Soga Plum Grove and Odawara Castle, but this is the first time I visit Minami-Ashigara. I always take Route 246 to Odawara, but will probably do so more often in the future.

There are a lot of good tourist destinations you just don’t know about. Today, after seeing the cherry blossoms, I will also visit Daiyuzan Saijoji Temple for the first time. It will probably be windy, so I will not take video.

There are 171 “Spring Cherry Blossom” trees planted along the banks of the Kari River. The aforementioned “Ichinoseki Harane” was breathtaking, but here it looks lonely as it is before full bloom. Although we have only walked about 100 meters, we decide to go to our final destination, the “Forest and Water Park”.

On the way we could see a small but early blooming tulip field and a Nemophila field😊 We’re now in the “Forest and Water Park”. It is a little after 9:00, but the wind has picked up a bit. I hope the wind will not get stronger.

When there is no wind we can enjoy the “peaceful atmosphere”. This is really a forest and water park. Snowdrops. Shiny petals, don’t know the name of the flower. Yukiyanagi (snow willow), swaying in the wind. My favorite creek. Nice balance of cherry blossoms and stream.

Earlier, the Haruki Path seemed lonely because it was a big river and small cherry blossoms. There is a good balance between the river and the cherry blossoms. Authentic Japanese landscape. I found out later that this place is famous for shooting puppies.

It was a weekday, but there were people waiting for their turn to be photographed. Everyone was frantically calling out to the puppies to get them to look at the camera. Maybe I was in the way of the filming. My apologies 😅

For some reason, this place is not on the Minami-Ashigara City cherry blossom map. But maybe I like it better than Ichinoseki Harane, which is stunning. I like the stunning beauty but I also like the nostalgic beauty of the original Japanese landscape.

It looks like a painting and I can see why it is popular for puppy shots. The road to the park is narrow and there are only about 20 parking spaces, so it will be very crowded during the holidays.

Since it is located in a residential area, it may not be included on the cherry blossom map out of respect for the residents. I would like to come on a weekday or by train and spend as much time as possible in peace. I would really like to keep it a secret place.

It’s a small park for the locals, so they probably weren’t expecting many people. You can enjoy the seasonal flowers and see the fireflies. Such information was posted on social networking sites, and many people came, and now residents cannot even take a quiet walk.

I live in a tourist area myself, and I have mixed feelings about such things, happy and sad. There are no cherry blossoms at the back of the park, but it is very quiet. I can hear the warblers singing. This is my favorite view of the cherry blossoms today.

Today I came to Minami-Ashigara City to see the “Spring Cherry Blossom” for the first time, and I am very happy to see this view. This is definitely a place I want to come back to next year.

Now I will stop at Daiyuzan Saijoji Temple and return to my home at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Construction of the New Tokyo-Nagoya Expressway is underway along Route 246, and it is a breathtaking construction scene that I see every time I pass by.

I keep thinking “the bridge is going to be connected soon” but it never seems to make any progress. Now that we’ve been overwhelmed by the man-made structures, let’s finally take a look at the naturally formed Mt. Fuji, which has erupted many times.

This is the opposite side of Mt. Fuji that I see every day. It’s rare to see snow this far up the slopes. That concludes this video. Thanks for watching to the end. Soon the Someiyoshino will be in bloom. See you in the next video😊

I visited Minami-Ashigara City in Kanagawa Prefecture to see “Spring Cherry Blossom” for the first time.
I had never heard of “Spring Cherry Blossom” before, but it was the most beautiful among the early-blooming cherry trees.

The “Ichinoseki Harane” which bloomed all over the slope and was breathtaking was also nice, but my own recommendation was the “Mori to Mizu no Koen” (Forest and Water Park).
It was a nice park with a stream.
It is a wonder that it is not on the cherry blossoms map of Minami-Ashigara City.
Please note that the road to get there is narrow and the parking lot has only about 20 cars, so it is difficult to access when it is crowded.

00:00 Opening
01:02 Ichinoseki Harane
08:10 Daiyuzan Station
08:34 Haruki Path
11:22 Forest and Water Park
17:31 New Tomei Expressway construction scenery
17:51 Fuji seen from Subashiri

Minami-Ashigara City Official Website https://www.city.minamiashigara.kanagawa.jp/kankou/topics/p07217.html

Date taken : March 18, 2024
Camera : SONY ZV-E10
Lens : SELP1650
Resolution : 4K

*Using Google Translate. Therefore, please be aware that there may be typos or omissions.
*Please note that the information in the video may not be 100% accurate.

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