A Cherry Tree Older Than Most Nations
On the grounds of Jissō-ji, a temple in the Mukawa district of Hokuto City in Yamanashi Prefecture, grows a cherry tree whose trunk measures close to twelve meters around at the base. This is the Yamataka Jindai Zakura. It is an Edohigan cherry, and the figure most often quoted for its age sits somewhere between 1,800 and 2,000 years. When Japan drew up its very first list of nationally protected natural monuments in 1922, this tree was on it.
The name itself tells you what people have long believed. Jindai means "the age of the gods," the mythic era before recorded history. Visitors come not only to see a famous flowering tree but to stand in front of something that has been alive, by tradition, since before Japan kept written records.
Two Legends, a Thousand Years Apart
The tree carries two stories, and the gap between them is itself part of the appeal.
The first reaches back to Yamato Takeru, the legendary prince of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. Local tradition holds that during a campaign in the eastern provinces he paused in this valley and planted the sapling himself. Whether or not a single tree could survive two millennia, the Edohigan species is genuinely among the longest-lived of Japan's cherries, which is part of why the legend has held its ground.
The second story moves forward roughly a thousand years. In the 13th century, the priest Nichiren is said to have passed through, found the tree ailing, and prayed for its recovery. The tree revived, according to the account, and for this reason it also carries a second name: Myōhō-zakura, the "cherry of the wonderful law," after a central phrase in Nichiren Buddhism. Jissō-ji itself, founded in 1375, belongs to the Nichiren school, so the temple and the tree share a lineage.
Why It Was Designated
The Yamataka Jindai Zakura became a national natural monument on October 12, 1922, under the criterion that protects famous trees, giant trees, and ancient trees. It was among the very first group of natural monuments named under Japan's then-new preservation law, and for that reason it is often described as the country's first designated natural monument tree.
The official record from 1922 gives a sense of how much larger the tree once was. At that time it stood 13.6 meters tall, with a crown spreading 27 meters east to west and 30.6 meters north to south. The trunk, measured at 1.5 meters above the ground, came to 10.6 meters around. Even then it was described as a tree past its prime, yet those numbers describe a canopy far broader than what stands today. In 1990 the tree was also chosen for the New Hundred Famous Trees of Japan, a list compiled by the city of Osaka and a national newspaper.
A Near Death, and a Recovery
The most striking thing about this tree is not its age in the abstract. It is that the tree very nearly did not survive the 20th century, and the story of its rescue is unusually well documented.
Photographs make the decline visible. A picture taken in 1907 shows a notably fuller tree than one from 1930. By 1948 specialists were saying the cherry had perhaps three years left. A 1951 photograph confirmed that a thick branch reaching south had died off. A typhoon in 1959 snapped another major limb. By 1984 the situation was serious enough that a protective roof was built over the trunk to shield it.
In 2002 the local board of education asked a national flowering-tree organization to find out what was killing the tree. The investigation produced an uncomfortable answer: the protection itself was the problem. A stone enclosure built around the tree, together with two rounds of added soil piled over the root zone, had smothered the roots and cut off their oxygen. The second mounding, carried out in 1971, had done the most damage. Foot traffic from generations of visitors had already compacted the ground, and the tidy, swept enclosure had starved the soil of the decaying organic matter healthy roots depend on, leaving it vulnerable to a root-knot nematode infection. Even the protective roof had backfired by drying out the base of the tree.
Recovery work began in 2003. Crews removed the damaging soil, refilled the area with improved earth, and laid down a nutrient-rich, microbe-rich layer at the surface. The response came quickly. By 2004 new shoots were growing at roughly twice the previous year's rate, leaf counts rose, and fresh roots appeared in visible quantity. In 2006 the protective roof was taken down. The tree visitors see now stands about 10 meters tall, with one heavy branch pushing strongly to the east, held up by props beneath. It is smaller than the giant recorded in 1922, but it is alive and producing flowers.
When to Visit, and What You Will See
The cherry blooms in the last days of March and the first part of April. The flowers of an Edohigan open pale pink and fade toward white as they age, so the color of the tree shifts over the short flowering period. When the Southern Alps still hold snow on their peaks, the pale blossom set against white mountains and a clear sky is the view photographers come for.
The tree does not stand alone. The temple grounds hold around thirty Somei-yoshino cherries and a planting of roughly 80,000 daffodils, which flower at a similar time and fill the lower ground with yellow. Saplings grown from the other two of Japan's three great cherries, the Miharu Takizakura of Fukushima and the Usuzumi cherry of Gifu, have also been planted here, so the three are gathered, in a sense, at a single site.
There is one more tree worth seeking out. In 2008, seeds from the Jindai Zakura, along with seeds of other flowers, were carried to the International Space Station and kept aboard the Japanese laboratory module for about eight and a half months. Of roughly 120 seeds that made the trip, only two sprouted after returning to Earth. One of those seedlings is now growing at Jissō-ji as a "space cherry." It germinated in 2010 and surprised observers by flowering after only two years rather than the decade an Edohigan normally needs.
Around the Temple
Jissō-ji sits in the Mukawa district on the western side of Hokuto City, in country shaped by the rivers running down from the Southern Alps. The area is known for clean water and quiet farmland, and the drive in passes orchards and rice fields rather than crowds.
During the flowering season the temple holds a cherry festival, with local food and produce stalls set up near the grounds. Hokuto City as a whole offers hot springs, the upland scenery of the Yatsugatake foothills, and several other notable trees and shrines within a short drive, making the Jindai Zakura a natural anchor for a wider day in the region.
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Q&A
- Is the tree really 2,000 years old?
- The figure of 1,800 to 2,000 years is an estimate rooted in long tradition rather than a precisely dated measurement. What is certain is that this is an exceptionally old Edohigan cherry, a species known for longevity, and that it was already regarded as ancient when designated in 1922.
- When is the best time to see it in bloom?
- Late March to early April is the usual window, though the exact peak shifts each year with the weather. Checking a recent bloom forecast before traveling is advisable, since the flowering period is short.
- Is there an admission fee?
- During the cherry season a fee is charged to enter the temple grounds, with a reduced rate for Hokuto City residents and free entry for children of junior high school age and younger. The tree can also be viewed, at a distance, from outside the temple.
- How do I get there?
- By car, it is roughly fifteen minutes from the Sutama interchange on the Chuo Expressway. By train, the nearest station is Hinoharu on the JR Chuo Main Line, from which the temple is a short taxi ride. Temporary paid parking opens during the flowering season.
- Why is it also called Myōhō-zakura?
- The second name comes from the legend that the priest Nichiren prayed for the ailing tree's recovery in the 13th century. Myōhō refers to a core phrase of Nichiren Buddhism, and Jissō-ji, the temple where the tree grows, belongs to the Nichiren school.
Basic Information
| Name | Yamataka Jindai Zakura |
|---|---|
| Location | Jissō-ji, 2763 Yamataka, Mukawa-cho, Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture |
| Designation | National Natural Monument (designated October 12, 1922) |
| Species | Edohigan cherry (Prunus pendula f. ascendens) |
| Estimated age | Approximately 1,800 to 2,000 years |
| Current size | About 10 meters tall; trunk and root circumference about 12 meters |
| Other recognition | One of Japan's three great cherry trees; New Hundred Famous Trees of Japan (1990) |
| Best season | Late March to early April |
| Access | About 15 minutes by car from Sutama IC, Chuo Expressway; taxi from JR Hinoharu Station |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/401/1094
- Yamataka Jindai-zakura, Hokuto City Official Site
- https://www.city.hokuto.yamanashi.jp/fc/location/22452.html
- Yamataka Jindai-zakura, Hokuto City Tourism Association
- https://www.hokuto-kanko.jp/spot/sakura_jindai/
- About the Jindai-zakura, Jissō-ji Temple Official Site
- https://www.jindaizakura.com/jindaizakura/
- Jindai-zakura, Japanese Wikipedia
- https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/神代桜
Last verified: 2026.05.23