Garyu cherry tree (botanical name: Cerasus pendula Maxim.form.ascendens Ohwi) is in the precinct of Daidoji Temple in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture. It was originally called “the Cherry Tree in Daidoji,” but it was given the present name “Garyu Cherry Tree (literally meaning “the Lying Dragon Cherry Tree”) by the priest Dosen of Daidoji Temple in 1931 because it resembles a dragon lying on the ground. The branches on the south side extend along the ground as if they were crawling and the tips of the branches rise up into the air, which exactly looks like a dragon.

More than 1,100 years old, with branches 30 meters long in north and south, 20 meters in east and west, and 20 meters high, it was designated as a National Natural Monument in 1973. The tree had been attacked by typhoons several times and had almost died down but it revived each time as if it responded to people’s wishes. The area around the tree was arranged into Garyu Park in 1989, where the cherry blossom festival is held from the mid-April to the beginning of May every year.