Yoshinoyama is the generic name for the northern sector of the Omine Mountains, which faces the Ryumon Mountains with the Yoshino River in between. The ridge expanding about 8 km is Japan’s most famous cherry blossom spot. The valleys and ridges are covered with an estimated 30,000 cherry trees, which are in full bloom from the early through the late April. The elegant and noble cherry blossoms in Yoshinoyama have attracted a lot of literary people including poets of ancient “Kokinwaka-shu.” Yoshinoyama, as a temple town of Kongosenji Temple, had been a center of Shugendo (mountain practice) for many centuries. Mountain practitioners from all over the country visited this sacred place. Yoshinoyama also played an important role at several turning points in Japanese history. This is where Minamoto no Yoshitsune concealed himself after escaping from his brother, and where Emperor Godaigo established the Southern Dynasty. Together with Mount Koya and Kumano, Yoshino was designated a cultural UNESO World Heritage Site in 2004, named the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range".