I went to Eboshiyama Park on a nice Sunday. It is one of the two “Best 100 cherry blossom spots” in Yamagata. I got up early in the morning and took a look train. There’s only a 10 minutes difference between a local train and Shinkansen. So I didn’t bother and just took the local train (Ou Line).

When I arrived at Akayu Station(赤湯駅) , I was surprised that it was an unmanned old station. And I was the only one of the passengers getting out of the train.  There was no taxis and the station was empty. Was I too early?

I saw a nice cherry tree across the station so I stopped for some photos. Then find my route to Eboshiyama Park. It took 25 minutes. I was the only person who walked on the street the whole time.

Eboshiyama Park is up on the hill behind Akayu Onsen.  It is one of the 100 best cherry blossom viewing spots in Japan. There are 25 species of about 1,000 cherry tress planted in the park. Many are over 100 years old trees. The top of the park was a large lawn surrouned by cherry trees. A perfect place for picnic to embrace spring. I took a walk around the park. to take in the view of the city below and saw the largest stone torii that was made of one piece of stone.  It was a nice day.

Walking back to the JR station was more straight forward and a few minutes faster because I went back to the new JR Akayu station.

Access: Take Ou Line to Akayu Station (45 minutes on Shinkansen, or around 1 hours on local train but half the price.

Tips: Shinkansen or fast JR train embarks at the new Akayu Station. When you get out of the station, it's just one straight road all the way to Eboshiyama Park. It takes about 20 minutes. If you take the local train, the train track is closer to the old unmanned station which I got off. The trick is that it's a an exit and there is no taxi. I had to walk around to cross the railway which take a few minutes longer to get to the park.