The large cherry tree near the temple entrance has lost most of its flowers

As this year’s Hanami season comes to an end, the last place to visit around Kyoto is often the Ninna-Ji Temple (仁和寺).  Located in the North West part of town, this temple is quite famous for its Omuro cherry trees, ancient, dwarf, late-flowering trees.  The Omuro cherries in front of the PagodaThey were still charging yen 500 for entering the garden area, so that meant that it wasn’t completely over!

 

 

Indeed, while some of the flowers and petals were blown away by the recent rain and wind, the place was still beautiful.  I really like the view of the flowers in front of the 5-storey pagoda (built in 1637).

The weather was beautiful and I had a bit of time on my hand, so I looked around and discovered a number of other varieties of cherry flowers around the temple ground.

 

The famous Omuro cherry garden with the 5-storey pagoda in the background

The Omuro-zakura (Omuro Cherry Trees) are a special variety of short, late-blooming cherry trees. In many parts of Kyoto cherry trees start blooming as soon as March, but the Omuro Cherry Trees are much slower to blossom, often coming into full bloom in early to mid-April.

The Omuro Cherry Trees have been at the temple since the Edo Period, and have been beloved by many for hundreds of years. The beauty of the trees in bloom and their special characteristics have been recorded in many poems. The Ninna-ji Temple’s cherry tree grove as a nationally recognized Place of Scenic Beauty (“meisho” 名勝) since 1924.

The Omuro cherry trees are not the only cherry trees one can find at the temple. Here are a few other flowers around the temple ground.

Ninna-Ji Temple

Ninna-Ji Temple

Ninnaji Temple is a short walk from the Omuro Station on the Kitano Line of the Keifuku Railway (Randen).

Kyoto buses #10 and #59 from Sanjo Keihan Station (40 minutes) stop at the Ninnaji-mae bus stop as does the #26 from Omiya and Saiin stations on the Hankyu Line.  There is also a direct JR bus (30 minutes; 230 yen) to the temple from Kyoto Station.

Ninnaji Temple (Japanese, Chinese, English, Korean)
33 Ouchi Omuro
Ukyo-ku, Kyoto
Hours: 9am-5pm (last entry at 4.30pm; last entry 4pm December to February)

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