About 3,000 cherry trees grow around Kintai-kyō, a renowned wooden bridge of exceptional beauty. The light pink of the sakuras growing on the riverbed are augmented by their reflections in the flowing river. For a close-up view, visitors can board pleasure boats that operate during the peak season.

The 200-meter Kintai Bridge has a highly unusual five-arch sequential wooden structure (the three spans in the middle are each an arch bridge). After being washed away by a typhoon in 1950, it was rebuilt in the same wooden style, and renovation began in 2000 to reinforce the wooden girders that had decayed. Kintai Bridge is a popular tourist destination not only during the hanami season in the spring but throughout the year; attractions include firework displays and cormorant fishing in the summer, the coloring of foliage in the fall, and white-draped snowscapes in the winter.

Kikkō Park’s Kintai Bridge (Yamaguchi)

  • Varieties: Somei yoshino, yaezakura
  • No. of trees: 3,000
  • When: Late March to early April
  • Hours: 8:00–17:00
  • Admission: ¥310 to cross bridge (round trip)
  • Address: Yokoyama, Iwakuni-shi, Yamaguchi
  • Website: Kintaikyō Bridge

Nearby hanami sites

Near Kikkō Park

Sakura 100: Japan’s Best Blossoms

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Iwakuni City Industry Promotion Department.)