In April 2014, I have been to Mt.Mino, because I wanted to see the cherry blossoms. There is a park called Mi-no-yama Park on top of Mt.Mino, and there are a lot of cherry blossom trees. The park is located between Chichibu city and Minano city, Saitama.

     Mt.Mino has three nearest stations. When I went to the mountain, I got off at Oyahana station. When I came back, I took the train at Wado-kuroya station.

     At first, from Ikebukuro station to Seibu-Chichibu station, it took about 70 minutes by the Limited Express on the Seibu Line. Next, I transferred to the Chichibu Line, from Ohanabatake station to Oyahana station, it took about 17 minutes by the local train.

     IC tickets were not available on Chichibu Line so I was surprised.

     According to the Chichibu Railway official website, IC tickets can be used from March 12, 2022.

     From Oyahana station to top of Mt.Mino, it took me about 90 minutes by walking and climbing.

     There were a lot of cherry trees, but the cherry blossoms were not blooming, and there were no people. Going further up, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and many people were coming to see. It is the “Yoshino tree”, the one I saw earlier was another type, and it blooms late.

    • Cherry blossoms were just in full bloom
      Cherry blossoms were just in full bloom
    • There were cherry blossoms close to an observatory
      There were cherry blossoms close to an observatory

     There was a stand, and there were three toilets, and we could use water in Mi-no-yama Park. In fact, there is a roadway from the foot to the Mi-no-yama Park, and there were some parking areas, so we could reach it by car.

    • Cherry blossoms view from the observatory
      Cherry blossoms view from the observatory
    • Cherry blossoms and the mountains of Chichibu. Mt. Buko is visible in the center.
      Cherry blossoms and the mountains of Chichibu. Mt. Buko is visible in the center.

     After lunch, I was going to take the train at Wadō-kuroya station, so I went down to take it.

     When I came to the foot, some flowers were blooming. I didn’t know what kind of cherry tree it was, but they were very beautiful. “Mi-no-yama” means beautiful mountain. It was the truth because a lot of flowers were blooming from the foot to the top.

    • Some beautiful flowers bloom at the foot of Mt.Mino
      Some beautiful flowers bloom at the foot of Mt.Mino