Ueno Park

Ueno Park (上野公園 ueno kōen) is a large park in Ueno in Iga containing Mie's only standing castle that is located right in the middle of town.

Name

Understand that "Ueno Park" is the name of a park in Tokyo that is one of the most well-known if not the single most well-known city park in all of Japan. It's name recognition within Japan is similar to that of Central Park in New York.

The vast majority of Japanese people will think of this park when they hear the words "Ueno Park", but those lucky few in Mie will know of this place. So if you tell somebody not from the area "I went to see sakura at Ueno Park", they will all imagine the Tokyo park.

Features

Home to Ueno Castle, the only proper castle in all of Mie that is still standing and not in ruins. There is a body of water that is part of the former moat.

Also home to the Basho House, referring to Matsuo Basho the famous haiku writer.

Also home to the ninja house and performances. In reality, almost everything famous in Ueno is in this park. Plenty of food stalls during festival time as well as some nice cherry blossoms in the spring.

Events

• Ninja Fest

  Held every weekend in April. Though the festival isn't really centered here -- the place where you change into your ninja suit is a grocery store south of the station -- you will see many a ninja wandering the park, the houses, and maybe even trying to scale the castle walls. Other ninja-related events take place throughout the year but this is the main one.

• Hanami

  One of the major hanami spots in western Mie. There are some up by the castle, but the trees are scattered all over the park.

Maps

• Google map

Directions

By Train

The park is located almost immediately adjacent to Uenoshi (上野市) Station, the main station on the Iga Railway, and so is fairly conveniently accessed.

From the station, look for the staircase that leads underground to the other side of the train tracks. As soon as you're on the other side of the tracks from where the station building is, you're basically already in the park. The castle is in the western area while the basho house and ninja museum are more in the northern area.

By Car

Downtown Ueno. Head for the giant castle.