Nabekura Park, Castle-site cherry-blossom park in Tōno, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
Nabekura Park is a park laid out on the site of Nabekura Castle on Mount Nabekura, a 343.9 m hill in Tōno, Iwate Prefecture. About 1,000 cherry trees were planted from the foot of the castle site to the summit, and the Sannomaru area has a walking path and a stone garden. A lookout modelled on a castle keep, the Nabekura Observatory, stands in the Sannomaru and looks over the city of Tōno.
Nabekura Castle was built by the Asonuma clan during the Tensho era of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and later became the residence of the Tono Nanbu clan, a leading castle of the Nanbu domain. In modern times about 1,000 cherry trees were planted from the foot of the castle site to its summit, and the grounds were laid out and opened as a park.
Each spring the castle grounds host the Sakura Matsuri on 3 May from 10:00 to 15:30, and evening viewing of the blossoms (yozakura) runs from 21 April to 6 May, 18:00 to 22:00. The name Nabekura comes from the hill itself, Nabekura-yama, on whose castle site the park was laid out.
The park covers the slope and summit of Mount Nabekura, 343.9 m high, so the walk from the foot of the castle site to the top is uphill. The summit viewing platform, modelled on a castle keep, stands on the third enclosure (Sannomaru), where a strolling path and a stone garden were laid out.
The lookout on the third bailey, built to resemble a castle keep and called Nabekura Observatory, stands on the site of Nabekura Castle and gives a view over the whole of Tōno's town centre. The castle was held by the Nanbu clan of Tōno after the Azonuma built it in the Tenshō era.
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