The approach to a temple is the avenue. Mitake's cherry trees run for a kilometre and a half along the path from the old Ise Hon-kaido highway up to the gate of Shinpukuin, and there are over five hundred of them. They are yama-zakura, wild cherry, and the site is designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty. The flowering comes from the start of April into the middle of the month.

Yama-zakura opens its leaves at the same time as its flowers, which Somei-yoshino does not do at all.

The practical effect is that the avenue is never a single white. Each tree carries its own mixture of pale flower and reddish new leaf, and because these are seedling trees rather than grafted clones, no two are quite the same shade.

A park that collects varieties is an arrangement someone made. This is closer to a stand of trees that were already on the mountain, tidied into a line by the path. The path climbs, so the village drops away behind you as you go, and the terraced rice fields below come into the view a little more with every turn. By the time you reach the gate you are looking down on both the village and the fields, with the whole avenue behind and below you.