AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Senjosan Manbonzakura Park — 'the Ten-Thousand Cherry Park' — is a hillside garden and trailhead at the foot of Mt Senjo (Senjosan) in the town of Kotoura, on Tottori's San'in coast. True to its evocative name, the whole mountain flank is planted with a rich mix of cherry varieties that bloom in shifting waves from early April to early May, giving visitors close to a month of hanami rather than a single fleeting week.↗
The park is a relaxed, family-friendly place to picnic, wander and climb: paved drive routes and hiking paths wind up through the trees toward the dramatic volcanic cliffs of Mt Senjo, a mountain long associated with the medieval Emperor Go-Daigo. Come autumn, the same trails turn brilliant with fall colour, making this a quietly rewarding destination across two seasons.↗
A mountain of cherries, blooming in relays
What makes the park special is not one spectacle but a sequence of them. As the name *manbonzakura* ('ten thousand cherries') suggests, the trees here are numerous and varied, and because each type flowers at a different time, the season stretches unusually long. Pale pink Somei Yoshino open first, around early to mid April; double-flowered yaezakura then follow in mid to late April, often at their most spectacular; mountain cherries (yamazakura) and weeping cherries (shidarezakura) round out the display, extending the viewing window toward early May. In practice, that means a month-long chance to find blossoms in some corner of the hillside.
