The cherry trees at Shimizu Park start before the park does. They line the approach road as well as the grounds, so the season has already begun by the time you reach the gate, and there is no single point where you can say it starts.

There are about two thousand of them. Some are over a hundred years old. There are weeping varieties among them, and the prefecture gives the peak as the last days of March running into the first week of April.

This is not a quiet park. It is known in Chiba for its assault course, a large one, strung through the trees and over water, and in early April the two things happen on the same afternoon. Most famous cherry sites are somewhere you go to be still. This is somewhere you go to be busy, and the flowers are overhead while you are.

Children go across the ropes while adults spread mats underneath, and the noise is considerable. If you want cherry blossom in silence this is the wrong place to come, and knowing that in advance is most of the battle. Come on a weekday if you want the trees to yourself. During the festival the trees are lit from sunset, which means the park has two different atmospheres in one day, and a fair number of people come back after dark to see the second one.