Discover Tendo

Tendo appeals to travelers with a range of interests: the public Tendō Park (Mt. Maizuru) is in the city center, the Tendō Sakura Festival “人間将棋” takes place on weekends in mid-April, and the Tendo City Shogi Museum and Shogimura Tendo Tower offer different ways to explore shogi. The park, event, museum, and hands-on activities highlight different sides of the city and help you define the purpose of your trip.

Tendō Park: City Location and Views

Tendō Park (Mt. Maizuru) is a public park in the center of Tendo and a city landmark. From the observation point at the summit, you can see Mt. Gassan, the Asahi Mountains, and the Mogami River. This brings together a central city location and a specific view of mountains and river in the same park. If you would like to consider scenery as well as an urban setting when choosing a destination, this combination is a clear point to keep in mind.

Cherry Blossom Festival and Shogi Culture

The Tendō Sakura Festival “人間将棋” has a distinct seasonal focus: it takes place on weekends in mid-April beneath around 2,000 cherry trees. The weekend dates and setting among the trees give the event specific features to consider when planning your trip. If you would like to make the festival the reason for your visit, check the event dates for your planned travel period. That way, you can factor the timing into your choice of Tendo.

The Tendo City Shogi Museum explores several aspects of shogi. Its exhibits cover the origins of the game, its transmission to Japan, and shogi around the world. They also feature how shogi pieces are made and the work of shogi-piece craftsmen. The museum’s scope thus ranges from history and transmission to materials and craftsmanship. For your travel plans, this offers a different experience from the festival: rather than a seasonal event, the museum focuses on several shogi-related topics. If you would like to learn about the game’s history and how it is made, you will find relevant topics here.

Hands-on Shogi and Soba

Shogimura Tendo Tower adds hands-on activities to these themes. With a reservation, you can create a shogi piece featuring a character of your choice and make soba noodles yourself. When creating the piece, you choose the character; the soba experience focuses on making the noodles yourself. Visitors can also carve a unique shogi piece there. The activities therefore differ in what they involve: personalized design, noodle-making, and carving a shogi piece. Booking conditions for the carving activity may change, so please check them before making plans.

Discover more destinations: Takahata, Yuza, Mogami District, Higashine, Nan'yō, Fukura, Yamagata, Nishimurayama District

For the overall travel guide: Yamagata Prefecture.