★March 23 &24, 2019, Kyoto and Osaka No.5 I was planning to visit some early blooming cherry spots in Osaka but hotel employees said early cherry points were finished and next one hadn’t started. So I thought to visit Osaka Castle Park which has 3000 cherry trees. But I twisted my knee at the end of February and long walk of the day before made my knee worse. I gave up walking in very wide Osaka Castle Park and decided to visit a small temple, Kaju-ji or kanshu-ji temple, in Kyoto. The web said they had many early blooming cherries. So I headed to Kyoto again. But Kaju-ji was a disappointment for me. It really had many early blooming cherries but they were small and rather miserable shape. First I couldn’t identify them, then I understood the soil of the temple was clay soil and cherries couldn’t grow properly. The ground wasn’t flat and my knee started aching again and I gave up visiting more temples nearby and went back home.
★March 27,2019 Bicycle Ride to Ueno Park Somei-yoshino in Tokyo became full bloom on March 27,2019. In Osaka Somei-yoshino just started to bloom on that day. I rode to Ueno Park late afternoon. The scenery on the way changed completely with cherries. But accolade hadn’t been full bloom. It was still 60% bloom. Accolade might bloom longer even in Japan. In Ueno Park I visited the back garden of the National Museum which opens only cherry season and colored leaves season. I had visited there before Somei-yoshino started several years ago and had a very good impression but this time the garden was under the shade of the Museum and wasn’t good. There was a cherry tree which had flowers like Yae-beni-shidare but not weeping. I think it is Yae-beni-higan. There were many people enjoying Somei-yoshino in Ueno Park.
They are beautiful, aren’t they? Now even Kanzan and Fugenzo are finishing or finished in Tokyo, Isn't it same in Vancouver? But we can still enjoy cherries in this site. Because Somei-yoshinos are full bloom in North Tohoku, north part of Main Island of Japan now and in Hokaido, North Island of Japan Somei-yoshino and other cherries hasn't started blooming yet. But I'm still posting cherries I saw at the end of March.
★Sunday, March 31, 2019 One Day Bus Trip 2019 No.1 Yatsushiro Hometown Park My husband and I had one day bus trip to see cherry blossoms and peach flowers on Sunday, March 31, 2019. It started from Ueno at 7:40. It was cloudy but Ueno was already full of travelers. First we visited Yatsushiro Hometown Park in Yamanashi prefecture. It is a local park with many cherry trees. Yamanashi is very famous for fruits. We were supposed to see peach fields full of blossoms but it was a little too early. Peaches were just started blooming. There were 2 ancient tombs like hills. Kohigan-zakura, shiki-zakura and Jugatsu-zakura were blooming. Somei-yoshinos were half bloom and Yae-beni-shidares were just started bloom. Shiki-zakura and Jugatsu-zakura bloom in Late October, too. So people there can enjoy Cherries in Autumn.
★Sunday, March 31, 2019 One Day Bus Trip 2019 No.2 Minobusan Kuonji Temple Next, we visited Minobusan Kuonji Temple. It is also in Yamanashi Prefecture. The temple and the town were full of weeping cherries. I hadn’t seen so many weeping cherries in one place. Minobusan Kuonji is a head temple of Nichiren-shu sect of Buddhism. It’s the religion of my parents’ house, so I had heard about it since I was child. I knew there were two 400 year-old shidare-zakuras but I didn’t know there were so many beautiful cherries in the precinct. 400-year-old Shidare-zakuras In the precinct Other temples and the town
It’ already May 3. now. In Tokyo even Fugenzo finished and Somei-yoshinos are full bloom in Sapporo and Hakodate in Hokkaido, the North Island of Japan. In Japan New Imperial Era, Reiwa Started the day before yesterday, May 1, 2019 with calm and cherish air. Last era, Heisei started suddenly with the death of Showa Emperor in grief and confusion. It lasted 30 years in peace and no war in Japan but with a lot of large disasters like earthquakes, Tsunami, floods, volcanic explosion and Fukushima disaster. This time the new era started because of retire of last emperor. It was well scheduled and we could have very long holidays. Reiwa, 令和, means beautiful harmony. We hope it’ll be calm, peace and prosperous time. But I’m still posting the place I visited in March. ★March 31,2019 One Day Bus Trip No.3 Fuji-san Hongu Sengen Shrine Last of our trip we visited Fuji-san Hongu Semgen Shrine in shizuoka prefecture. There are many Sengen or Asama shrines which worship Mt Fuji almost all over Japan. Hongu means the head shrine. This one locates near Mt. Fuji. The shrine isn’t very big, There weren’t plenty of cherry trees but most of them were full bloom. It became very fine day and we could see Mt. Fuji beautifully. The bus was scheduled to arrive at Ueno at 7:30 PM in 3 and half hour drive. But we were trapped in traffic jam on the way back and we arrived there at 9 PM. *I forgot to insert a link to the last posting of Minobusan Kuonji Temple. I inserted the link there today.
★April 2, 2019 Sobu Course of Sobu Country Club I enjoyed golfing at Sobu Course on April 2, 2019. There are three 9-hole courses there. Before I golfed at Middle and West 9-holes and found not many cherries but this year I golfed at East 9-hole. I found many cherry trees blooming there. I enjoyed golfing and cherries very much.
★ April 4, 2019 Sakurazutsumi Park in Ichikawa It was a beautiful day on April 4 2019. I took my mother in wheelchair to Sakurazutsumi park which was made with large Condo complex by the Edo River about 20 years ago. I visited there on March 17,2016 to see Okan-zakura blooming. #158 Somei-yoshinos were full bloom.
★Satomi Park on April 5, 2019 I visited Satomi Park (#208)again while my mother went to Day-care Center. It was a beautiful Saturday. Many people were enjoying Hanami under cherry blossoms. Somei-yoshinos were almost full bloom and even blooming in the forest part of the local park. Kawazu-zakuras which I posted before showed beautiful bright green leaves.
★ Nakayama Hokekyo-ji Temple on April 5, 2019 Then I visited Nakayama Hokekyo-ji Temple. It is a head temple of Nichiren sect of Buddhism in Chiba prefecture. It’s under Minobusan Guhou-ji Temple. I used to visit this temple on New years day with my family until I married. Hokekyo-ji was very beautiful with cherries on peek bloom. I think there were some beautiful old cherries, perhaps Shidare-zakura, near the small pond in my memory. But there were nothing at that part of the temple.
★bicycle ride to Ueno Park on April 8 This year we could enjoy full bloom of Somei-yoshino longer than usual but they became after the peek bloom on April 8, 2018. On that day I rode to Ueno again to check full bloom of Accolade. But the Accolade tree was also finishing and not looked nice. I couldn’t see full bloom of Accolade this year. I’ll try next year. In Tokyo Accolade blooms longer than Somei-yoshino but as far as I saw this year, full bloom is not very long. I’ll check autumn blooming this year. Somei-yoshinos were finishing but some of them were still looked nice. Yae-beni-shidares were also finishing at the front Yard of Shitamachi Museum Annex, Old Yoshidaya Liquor Store. There was a Gyoiko blooming. But unfortunately it was Monday again. It was closed and I couldn’t take good photos of flowers. At Ueno Park Kanzan started blooming. Some other cherries were blooming and one wasn’t started blooming at the entrance of Tokyo University of the Arts.
★Somei-yoshinos in my mother’s neighborhood in Ichikawa, chiba, on April 9,2019 In Tokyo Somei-yoshinos were finishing but they were still worth viewing in my mother’s neighborhood in Chiba. Nearby and Junsai Pond Park in Nakakokubun, Ichikawa A small park etc. in Kitakokubun, Ichikawa A small Park in Yagiri, Matsudo
The Sakura front arrived in the last large city, Kushiro in Hokkaido on May 9, 2019. Today, May 21 almost all the places in Kushiro cherries finished and only in a few last places like Beppo Park and Harutori Park. They will finish in short time. Then only cherries on the high mountains still blooming or will bloom. But I haven’t post 3 more places I visited this April. So I continue posting. I’m sorry to be out of date very much. ★ Hakone on April 13, 2019 No.1 Last year I enjoyed my visit to Hakone, #189, very Much. This year I visited there with my husband at the same time of the year. It was a very fine day and we could see Mt Fuji and Somei-yoshinos on the way. But this year cherries at Togendai were rather slower than last year. Mame-zakuraz were started blooming but no other cherries nor wild azaleas. We crossed Lake Ashi and saw the historical buildings called Sekisho or a barrier station. Then we went to Hakone Onshi Park. There Somei-yoshinos which weren’t started blooming last year were 50% bloom. But web said Somei-yoshnos were full bloom on the middle part of the mountain. So we took a bus and went down the mountain. Cherries were full bloom at Mikawaya Ryokan, old Japanese style inn. It’s famous for cherries and maples in Autumn.
Thanks, Mariko - that looks beautiful, worth going down the mountain to see. And thanks for all the links too.
★ Hakone on April 13, 2019 No.2 There is Horaien Garden across the road. It was made by the founder of Mikawaya Ryokan and it is connected to the garden of Hotel Kowakien. There Somei-yoshinos and azaleas were beautiful. But Hotel Kowakien was closed last year because of getting too old and shortage of facilities. One third of the garden was closed. I found an U-tube made from pictures taken on April 12, 2016. Then we walked down to Kowakudani Station and took Hakone Tozan Train to Gora station. Then we took a Cable-car to Gora Park. There also cherries were peek bloom. There Kohigan-zakuras were blooming beautifully. There were not only Somei-yoshinos but Yae-beni-shidares, Mame-zakura, Jugatsu-zakura and Kawazu-zakura fiishing. But total number of the cherries was not many. Then we walk down to Gora. There were beautiful cherry spots near the station. Then we took a bus to Miyagino. There was a line of Somei-yoshinos by Haya River. They were full bloom. There was a beautiful spot of a line of Yae-beni-shidares and a line of Somei-yoshinos both side of a tributary of Hara River. Many people were enjoying cherries there. The website said cherries would be lit up from 6 o’clock but it wasn’t dark at 6 o’clock and there wasn’t any café or good facility to wait. We gave up light up cherries and went home.
The First Posting of 2020 Cherry Season We had a very warm winter this year. Early Blooming cherries were really early. I missed Kan-zakura and Kawazu-zakura this year. Because of Coronavirus and nursing of my mother, I couldn't go out so far. We are expecting record early blooming of Somei-yoshino this year. The record now is March 16. But yesterday, March 11, 2020, the temperature went up over 21 degrees in Tokyo. TV news said a few flowers of Somei-yoshino started blooming in Tokyo. This morning the standard tree in Yasukuni Shrine had only 1 flower open. The weather forecast said it would be 18 degrees tomorrow. If the standard tree has more than 5 flowers, Meteorological Agency will declare the blooming of Somei-yoshino will tomorrow. Cherry Blossom Forecast 2020
Thanks, Mariko. I didn't realize that 5 flowers open would indicate anything. And that link is showing 6 days from first open to best viewing - that must be for this year's temperatures. It is definitely longer than that for us here.
★Early blooming Cherries near-by my mother’s March 11 & 12, 2020 It was quite warm day yesterday, March 11, 2020. I found a new cherry tree in a bush when I take a short cut on my bike to a dairy store. It’s a small and not-good-shaped tree, so I didn’t realise it was a cherry tree until it had flowers. Also I couldn’t identify the tree. It has dark pink flowers with dark red calyx. As far as I know rather common early blooming cherries of dark pink are Yoko and Yokohama-hizakura. I thought it might be Yokohama-hizakura. In the bush some daffodils of yellow and white were started blooming and I noticed pale green flowers I don’t know were blooming. I checked the web and they were Fritillaria thunbergii. Shidare-zakura or Ito-zakura was blooming at a Senior Home in Nakakokubun. It starts blooming just a little before Somei-yoshino every year. There many other flowers were started blooming. Today, March 12,2020, I sent to Junsai Pond Park to check Yoko trees blooming. It was a little too early to see Yoko blooming. One tree had some flowers opend but they were different from the cherry I saw yesterday. Yoko had larger flowers of brighter pink.
★Meteorological Agency declared the blooming of Somei-yoshino on March 14, 2020 and full bloom on March 22 in Tokyo. Meteorological Agency declared the blooming of Somei-yoshino on Saturday, March 14. It was the record earliest bloom of Somei-yoshino in Tokyo. It was very warm on March 13 but only 2 blossoms of the standard tree bloomed. Then March 14, 2020 was a very cold day. The morning temperature wasn’t so cold but cold rain dropped the temperature and it dropped to only 1.6 degrees at 3 PM and it started snowing in Tokyo. But the standard tree had several flowers opened and they declared the blooming of Somei-yoshino. It stayed rather cold until March 19. Then we had 3 warm good spring days. On March 22, the temperature went up to 23.6 degrees. The standard tree in Yasukuni Shrine became more than 80 % bloom and they declared full bloom of Somei-yoshino in Tokyo. Even after March 22, we have warm days and cold days in turn. So this year blooming of Somei-yoshinos are depends on the location. Somei-yoshinos in Koishikawa Botanical Garden March 20, 2020 ************************** March 22. 2020 Chidori-ga-Fuchi March 25, 2020 On March 20, 2020, Somei-yoshinos weren’t started at all in Koishikawa Korakuen Garden. You san see branches of Somei-yoshino at the first picture. But Beni-sidares were full bloom.
Because of COVID-19, we are having very unusual cherry season. Most of the large parks and botanical gardens famous for cherries were closed from March 27,2020 or around. The governor of Metropolitan Tokyo called voluntary refrain of Hanami, or cherry viewing and outing this cherry season. Because in Japan cherry viewing means a party under the cherries. Also transportations are regarded a little dangerous. So we gave up our trip to Kyoto and 2 cherry bus trips. I’ll post what I saw this year first, then I’d like to post what I couldn’t post before. Postings are not always by order of date and some of them will be what I couldn’t post previous years. I’ll write the date first. ★Snow on Somei-yoshinos on March 29, 2020 The climate this year is also unusual. Meteorological Agency declared the blooming of Somei-yoshino on March 14 and full bloom on March 22 in Tokyo. It was a warm windy day on March 27 and some of the petals started falling. The temperature went up 24.6 degrees on March 28. Then the weather changed completely. March 29 was a record cold day of the highest 4 degree and the lowest 1.3 degrees. In my area it snowed from 10 am to 1 pm. It was spring snow and snowflakes were very big. I wanted to take pictures of Koishikawa Botanical Garden but it was closed. I took a picture from the gate and out side the fence. Then I went to harima-zaka Slope. It was quiet. The cherry festival was cancelled. The snowflakes were too soft and they melted on the roads. It wasn’t the scenery I expected but still worth taking pictures. It turned to be rain after 1 o’clock and all the snow melted quickly.
Now I go back to March 22,2020. That evening Meteorological Agency declared the full bloom of Somei-yoshino in Tokyo. ★Cherry walk on March 22, 2020, from Yotsuya Station to Tokyo Midtown 1/3 It was a warm good day for Sakura Quest. In the morning I visited Koishikawa Botanical Garden and checked Somei-yoshinos were 70% bloom. In the afternoon we started our walk from Yotsuya Station. You can see State Gest House, Akasaka Palace on the west side of the railway. But we walked on the bank of Sophia University side, the east side of railway to Hotel New Otani. The bank was a part of outer moat of Edo castle in old days. There were many old Somei-yoshinos and some other cherries on the bank. I know there are many cherries but I hadn’t walked there at cherry season. Unfortunately, they weren’t blooming so much but they were old and good condition. I wonder how old they were. There was one Shidare-zakura blooming in front of Kioi Hall entrance next to the university. The other one must be Yae-beni-shidare. It wasn’t blooming at all yet. Then we went to the Japanese Garden of Hotel New Otani. It’s one of the representative hotels of Japan where the banquet of the accession of the new Emperor was held last year. There are many cherry trees there but most of them hadn’t blooming yet. Autamnalis had pink spring flowers with small leaves. We went out of the hotel from the front side. There were lines of double cherries not blooming yet. I’d like to come again when thery are blooming. We were headed to Akasaka Station. Some Somei-yoshinos were start blooming on the bank of outer moat near Benkei Bridge.
★Cherry walk on March 22, 2020, from Yotsuya Station to Tokyo Midtown2/3 Akasaka Sacas Then we headed to Akasaka Sacas. It’s a shopping and dining complex with TBS Broadcasting centre and performing theaters. There is a slope called Sakura-zaka where many kinds of cherries were plated. People say there are a few Accolades which are very rare in Japan. I visited there in Autumn because people say Accolades also blooms in Autumn in Japan. But I couldn’t find flowers. Sakura-zaka slope was very very quiet. Theaters were closed because of COVID-19 and not many cherries were blooming. Kawazu-zakuras which bloomed in February were green with yang leaves. I found a tree with Accolade name plate. But it was Yama-zakura or a hybrid of Yama-zakura. Then I found a tree just started blooming near that tree. I thought it’s Accolade. But it had no name plate.