[9 Popular Tourist Spots in Tsuruoka] A Trip Filled with Rich Nature, History, and Culture

Tsuruoka can be enjoyed year-round, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that spring and winter are the best seasons to experience it at its finest.
In spring, you can enjoy beautiful cherry blossoms throughout the city, including at Tsuruoka Park, which was selected as one of Japan’s 100 Best Cherry Blossom Spots.
Because Tsuruoka’s mountainous areas receive heavy snowfall, you can also fully enjoy winter activities at the ski resorts.
Why not visit in spring or winter to experience Tsuruoka’s rich natural beauty?

Here is how to get to Tsuruoka from Tokyo via Yamagata Station.
Take the Yamagata Shinkansen from Tokyo Station, and it takes Approx. 2 hours 30 minutes to Yamagata Station.
Transfer to an express bus at Yamagata Station, and it takes Approx. 1 hour 30 minutes to Tsuruoka Station.
If you are traveling by plane, you can fly from Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Shonai Airport, then take an airport limousine bus for Approx. 1 hour 30 minutes.

The only aquarium in Yamagata Prefecture, located along the coast of Tsuruoka City.
With more than 60 species of jellyfish on display, it is known as the aquarium with the world’s largest number of jellyfish species both bred and exhibited.
The biggest highlight is the 5-meter-diameter tank called the “Jellyfish Dream Theater.”
The sight of Approx. 10,000 moon jellyfish drifting through the giant tank is something you can only see here.

A 414-meter mountain located northwest of Mt. Gassan, the main peak of Dewa Sanzan.
A few minutes’ walk along the mountain path from Zuishinmon Gate, where the bus stop is located, stands a 29-meter five-story pagoda rising as if blending into the cedar grove.
It is said to have been founded by Taira no Masakado in 938, and is one of the few remaining Buddhist structures on Mt. Haguro, which once embodied the syncretic fusion of Shinto and Buddhism. It was designated a National Treasure in 1966.

A castle ruins park developed on the former site of Tsuru-ga-oka Castle, where the Sakai family, lords of the Shonai Domain, had their residence for about 250 years, with moats, stone walls, and old cedar trees said to be several hundred years old evoking traces of the past.
Selected as one of Japan’s 100 Best Cherry Blossom Spots, the park is home to Approx. 710 cherry trees, mainly Somei Yoshino, as well as yaezakura and weeping cherry trees, which usually reach full bloom from early to mid-April.
The Tsuruoka Sakura Festival is held to coincide with the blossoms, and lanterns and food stalls create a lively festival atmosphere.

A Shingon Buddhist temple said to have been founded by Kukai in 807, with his disciple Tokai regarded as its founder.
Because Mt. Yudono was historically off-limits to women, the origin of the temple is said to be that Yudonosan Daigongen was invited to Dainichibo and the site was established as a place of worship for women.
At this temple, you can view the sokushinbutsu of Shinnyokai Shonin, who became a self-mummified monk at the age of 96 in 1783.

Founded in 1950 to promote local culture, the museum was established through the donation of cultural assets, land, and buildings handed down by the former lords of the Shonai Domain, the Sakai family.
The Sakai family traces its ancestry to Sakai Tadatsugu, one of the Four Guardians of Tokugawa, and governed Shonai from the Edo period until the abolition of the domain system in the Meiji era, devoting themselves to the development of a prosperous region.
The museum grounds were once the third enclosure of Tsuru-ga-oka Castle, and in earlier times, an official Sakai family residence stood there. Today, part of the former retirement residence of the Shonai lord, built in the late Edo period, still remains.

A roadside station along National Route 7 on the coast of Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. Its unique exterior, resembling two boats placed on the roof, makes it easy to spot.
The design is inspired by boats floating on the sea, and the building uses logs of locally produced cedar known as “Atsumi wood.”
This spacious roadside station brings together a variety of facilities, including a product hall that is perfect for souvenir shopping, with specialty products from the Atsumi area and processed agricultural goods.

Located within Tsuruoka Park, known for its beautiful rows of cherry trees along the moat, Shonai Shrine was founded in 1877 on the site of the former main enclosure of Tsuru-ga-oka Castle by the people of Shonai who admired their former domain lords after the Meiji Restoration.
The shrine enshrines four successive lords of the Shonai Domain as its deities and has been beloved by people throughout the Shonai area from its founding to the present day under the affectionate nickname “Jinjahan.”

Dewa Sanzan is one of Tohoku’s leading sacred sites of mountain worship and Shugendo.
It is the collective name for three mountains: Mt. Haguro, which represents the present, Mt. Gassan, which represents the past, and Mt. Yudono, which represents the future. Over its history of more than 1,430 years since its founding, diverse forms of faith have developed here, and it remains one of Japan’s foremost sacred sites where spiritual devotion still lives on.

A film studio located at the foot of Mt. Gassan, where sets built for movie productions are open to the public.
Spread across a vast 88-hectare site are atmospheric sets of a fishing village, farming village, post town, and mountain hamlet, among others. Many productions have been filmed here, including Departures, Rurouni Kenshin, and the Yusha Yoshihiko series.
Cosplay photo shoots are also popular, allowing visitors to dress in kimono or ninja costumes and feel as if they have traveled back in time (advance application required).