Morioka-jo Castle Site Park (Iwate Park)

This lovely little park is a fresh breath of green in the middle of a fairly concrete city. The entrance near the old castle walls is a pretty steep slope that leads up to an open area with a nice view of the streets below. There are also a few monuments at the top and an adorable little red Japanese-style footbridge. In the spring there is a long corridor of cherry trees that all bloom together and is a popular spot for locals to spread out a picnic tarp and have Hanami parties. On the lower levels of the park, there is a lot of greenery and a little creek leading to a nice pond. If you continue to walk around you can find little treasures like the history museum, a totem pole, and a historic warehouse that on some days you can go inside and look around. Other than the cherry blossom season, they also hold music festivals and some other events here in the park, usually in the wide gravel field or over by the history museum.