Maruyama Park

Maruyama Park is Kyoto's most beloved public park and the city's principal gathering place for the spring hanami (flower viewing) season, occupying approximately 86,000 square meters in the heart of the Higashiyama sightseeing district adjacent to Yasaka Shrine and below the Chion-in temple complex. The park was established in the Meiji period on former temple grounds and has been a public open space since 1886. The focal point of the park — and one of the most iconic images of Kyoto in spring — is the enormous weeping Yoshino cherry tree (shidarezakura) at the park's center, a specimen of great size whose cascading branches extend approximately 20 meters in diameter and are illuminated nightly during the blossom season under powerful floodlights. The current weeping cherry is the second tree on this spot: the original tree died in 1947 and its offspring, grown from a cutting, now stands as a second-generation successor. During the approximately one-week peak of the cherry blossom season in late March and early April, the park fills with thousands of Kyoto residents and visitors for hanami parties from dawn to late night. Dozens of food stalls selling yakitori, takoyaki, beer, and traditional spring foods set up around the park perimeter, creating a lively festival atmosphere that continues into the evening. The park year-round provides a green link between Yasaka Shrine to the west, the Chion-in approach to the north, and the beginning of the Higashiyama temple-hopping trail to the east and south. Ponds, walking paths, a bandstand, and traditional tea houses (including the Yohachi tea house) occupy the grounds beyond the central cherry tree area, providing pleasant walking space in every season.