Upon Maizuru Mountain once stood the castle built by Kitabatake Tendo; now the area is noted as one of the three best forest parks in western Tohoku, and is fondly regarded for the cherry and azalea blossoms in spring and the colorful foliage in autumn. From the top of this mountain you can see Gassan and the Asahi Range on the other side of the Murayama Basin and in the foreground Tendo City and the winding Mogami-gawa. At the base of the mountain is Atago Pond, used for boating and golf driving practice.
Every year from late April to early May the Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) and Human Chess are put on. Tendo's Human Chess is modeled after the first such time the game was played between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his son Hidetsugu outdoors under the cherry blossoms at Fushimi Castle in Kyoto, with pages and chambermaids used for chess pieces. Recently however, the participants in Tendo shed their page and chambermaid costumes, instead donning samurai armor; reminiscent of a Japanese Alice in Wonderland, the game is played out with top-ranking shogi masters making the moves.
15 minute walk from Tendo Station; the chessboard is on top of the mountain