Cherry blossom lasts about a week in most places. In Matsumae it lasts a month, because the town spent a long time collecting trees. Matsumae Park holds about ten thousand cherry trees of some two hundred and fifty varieties, early, middle and late flowering, planted together on the slopes below the castle. The official town guide gives the season as the middle of April to the end of May.

What that means on the ground is that the park is never all in flower at once. Walk from one side to the other in the first week of May and you pass trees that have already dropped their petals, trees at their fullest, and trees still holding tight buds that will not open for another fortnight. The season does not arrive and leave. It moves through the park.

The variety planted most often here is called Nanden. Its parent stands in the grounds of Kozenji, a temple a few minutes from the castle, and is known as the Kechimyaku Zakura. A story attached to it says the spirit of the tree once appeared in the form of a young woman. The tree is still there, and still flowers.

Matsumae is the only castle town in Hokkaido, at the southern tip of the island. The keep, the temple district behind it, and the paths between them sit inside one short walk. There are two specimen gardens in the park as well, where the varieties grow side by side, labelled. Late in the season the crowds thin while much of the park is still opening.