My second cherry blossom destination was Funaoka Castle Ruins Park and the Shiroishigaw Embankment “Hitome Senbonzakura” in Shibata Town which is about 25 minutes away from Sendai Station.

There are two routes that you may start. I was going to walk along the river bank where there are cherry trees then to the castle ruins. But I must have taking the wrong direction and the next thing I saw was the entrance of the castle ruin park. Well, it is what it is. So I visited the ruin park first.

On a pleasant day with sunny blue sky, I felt very good walking up the path. The first stop was the Sannomaru Square where there is a big lawn with food trucks and some tables surrounded by cherry trees.

Then I continue to walk up to the top which I passed through the famous slope car track. There was no car running due to maintenance. 

The trail was a well-paved road with nice views and flowers everywhere. Then the Community Garden “Hano Oka Shibata” was a nice little flower area to take photos.

The top of the hill sits the 24 meters tall Funaoka Helwa Kannon. The view up there was spectacular! The whole Shibata town down the hill was filled with pink cherry blossom.  I could see Mt. Zao with the last snow of winter in the distance. 

Address: Tateyama-95-1 Funaoka, Shibata, Shibata District, Miyagi 989-1606, Japan

Phone: +81 224-55-2123

Access: Take Tohoku Line to Funaoka Station (25 minutes from Sendai Station), walk about 15 minutes