Information for the stunning Jougaya Embankment Cherry Blossom Bank (Jougaya Tsutsumi Sakura Dote in Japanese), Kitamoto City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. You can see the beautiful contrast of rapeseed (nanohana) and cherry blossoms here. Moreover, although they don’t advertise it anywhere, each year they have a cherry blossom festival at this location. During the period of the bloom they put up the festival lanterns and there are some food vans on site. This was one of only a handful of places that had their festival in 2021.
Jougaya Embankment
Kitamoto City, on the eastern tip of the central area of Saitama Prefecture, has several cherry blossom viewing spots. One of the best known is the Jougaya Tsutsumi Cherry Blossom Bank sandwiched between the east side of Tenjinshita Park and the west side of Kitamoto Nature Observation Park. The embankment is located in the Ishito area of Kitamoto where there are several cherry blossom spots, including the only Kabasakura in the whole world. It is one of the five great sakura of Japan. Moreover, just a few minutes walk from Jougaya there is a weeping cherry blossom that is the child of another of the five great cherry blossoms of Japan.
In Japanese it is called Jougaya Tsutsumi Sakura Dote. Jougaya or Jogaya is the given name of the embankment: tsutsumi is the Japanese for an embankment or bank that is used as a levee or dyke. Dote also means an embankment. Sakura is a cherry blossom. I couldn’t find an official name in English online, or any information about the location in the English language either, so I have called it Jogaya Embankment Cherry Blossom bank.
The embankment is a functioning road and levee for the Arakawa River. It isn’t particularly long and there are only sixty cherry blossom trees. But the scene is quite spectacular juxtaposing bright yellow rapeseed with the mature cherry blossom trees, with a road running through. The cherry blossoms are of the popular Somei Yoshino variety.
The trees not only line the road itself, but the slopes of the embankment too. On the Kitamoto Nature Observation Park side there is a short avenue or tunnel of sakura you can walk through. On the Tenjinshita Park side there is no walkway through the trees, but you can picnic under the trees there.
Jougaya (Jogaya) Cherry Blossom Festival
During the festival they have food and drink stalls in the car park in Tenjinshita Car park and the lanterns offer lighting and atmosphere. There are some tables and chairs that you can use. When the sakura aren’t really blooming yet, they are finish up around 6.30 pm. When the sakura bloom they open at night too. In 2025 they were there until April 15th.
Information
Sakura Spot: Jougaya (Jogaya) Embankment Cherry Blossom Bank (Jougaya Tsutsumi Sakura Dote) 城ヶ谷堤（桜土手）
Season: typically, the last few days of March and early April. The rapeseed usually blooms for much of March and April.
Festival: the festival is never advertised widely, but they put up lanterns and have food vans during the peak bloom of the cherry blossoms. The lanterns are lit at night. In 2025 the festival was on until April 15th.
Location: Tenjinshita Park and Kitamoto Nature Observation Park. As the festival is on in Tenjinshita Park, I’m sharing that address: 7 Chome Ishitoshuku, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-0025. View on Google Maps.
Facilities: There is a women’s, men’s and a multipurpose toilet in the car park for Tenjinshita Park.
Access
The nearest highway interchange is Okegawa-Kitamoto on the Keno expressway. The embankment is about an eleven minute drive from the exit. There is a car park close to the embankment beside Tenjinshita Park. You can also take a scenic walk through the Kitamoto Nature Observation park from their car park. It is about a 12 minute walk through vaguely accentuated natural landscapes.
By public transport you can get a bus from the west exit of Kitamoto station to the Kitamoto Nature Observation Park bus stop and walk through the park to the cherry blossom spot. You can also get a bus from the east exit of Okegawa Station, on the Takasaki line, bound for Kitasato Daigaku Medical Center (which also has stunning cherry blossom trees) and walk about 25 minutes through the Kitamoto Observation Park.
More cherry blossom spots in Kitamoto
Kitamoto has some stunning cherry blossom spots including (but not limited to):
- The only kabazakura cherry blossom tree in the world. There is also stunning sakura (and one peach blossom tree) in the car park.
- Beautiful cherry blossom trees in the Kitamoto Children’s Park
- Takao Sakura Park
- There is also a very famous Edohiganzakura tree in the nature observation park. Unfortunately it was damaged in recent years and is fallen over, but miraculously it still blooms on one branch.
2020.03.25
such beautiful photos as always!
thanks a mill Andy, think I’ve found my photo-taking mojo!
Those picture are so striking. I wish I could enjoy cherry blossom now.
Thank you Yuna. I wish you could enjoy cherry blossoms now too 🙁 I hope you are staying safe and well. What a surreal time we are living in. Take care.