Cherry blossom tint the hill with pink

I wanted to see cherry blossom at Takato Castle Site Park in Nagano prefecture. Nagano prefecture is among high mountains like The north alps or The central alps of Japan. So cherry blossom bloom is later in usual year but in this year the bloom of nation-wide is earlier. Then the forecasting of bloom there was difficult. It snowed there on the day before I visited. But the snow melted and it was timely to see them for us luckily! They were just full blooming!
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The central alps and Takato-town

The takato- kohigan-zakura cherry blossoms (Prunus subhitella), a unique cherry variety found only here in the world,are a little smaller and more distinctly pink than another famous cherry blossom variety "someiyoshino" (Prunus yedoensis). As many as 1500 takato -kohigan-zakura cherry trees, some more than 130 years old,turn the whole park on the hill pale pink. This is one of the three grandest sites of cherry blossoms in Japan, along with Hirosaki Park of Aomori and Yoshinoyama of Nara.

The Takato clan ceased to exist, following the decree to abolish the feudal domains and established prefectures in 1871. This nationally famous cherry blossom site has its beginning when the former samurais of the Takato clan deplored the dilapidation of the castle site and moved here the cherry trees from the "Sakura-no- baba"( Hippodrome of Cherry blossoms) where the horses were said to have been "hidden among cherry blossom".