Glad to see the statues are being sensible Mariko.. lol. On a botanical point though, that Bamboo forest's amazing.
I’m still posting what I saw in March!! Sorry. ★March 31, 2021, Gokokuji Temple, Myougadani and Koishikawa Botanical Garden(No.1) On March 31, 2021, I visited Gokokuji Temple by my bicycle. It’s not far from my place. It takes 40 minutes’ walk or 20 minutes’ ride (but there aren’t any official bike parking). It’s 10 minutes’ drive, but I don’t have a car and there’s no public parking. If I use subway, it also takes 40 minutes. I have to change twice and I have to walk between the stations a lot. So I hadn’t visited there at cherry season except on a rainy day. Somei-yoshinos around my place were finishing at that time. But they were blooming beautifully at Gokokuji Temple. Also Maple leaves showed beautiful Green and red. Gokokuji has a good range of popular Cherries there. There was one Yae-beni-shidare blooming still beautifully. Ukon and Kanzan were blooming. One miserable Fugenzo tree was just started blooming. One Edo or Itokukuri was blooming beautifully and another one had just started blooming. One Gyoiko was half bloom and another one had just started blooming. There was a miserable Shirotae, I’m not quite sure, finishing at that time. There was a large Yae-beni-shidare which was not blooming and had only few buds in front of the main building. I saw some Yae-beni-shidare had few flowers because of bad weather of last year and very dry weather in this January and February. I wondered they would die out. I visited there again on May 6, 2021. The tree wasn’t perfect but it had green foridges. Even in Kichijo-ji Temple, there were some Yae-beni-shidare which didn’t have many flowers. But they also look all right now.
Thanks particularly for that 'Gyoiko' photo, Mariko, showing petals that are almost entirely green, with the petal edges curled back as described by Kuitert in Japanese Flowering Cherries (Timber Press, Portland, OR, 1999, p. 352). That 'Shirotae' is pretty interesting too.
★March 31, 2021, Gokokuji Temple, Myougadani and Koishikawa Botanical Garden(No.2) On my way back, I found a corner with 3 young cherries near Myogadani Station. Two of them had yellow flowers and one had green flowers. First I thought the city of Bunkyo did cool job to plant Ukon and Gyoiko together. But then I thought it’s quire that they didn’t have any name plates. Also yellow flowers had a lot of green lines. Now I think they turned to be like these. I heard when people wanted to make new Gyoiko trees using branches of Gyoiko for cutting or grafting, they sometimes turned to be Ukon and the other side can happen, too. Then I found a beautiful pink double cherry. Flowers got together and made flower balls. I think it is Beni-temari, red balls. It is supposed to be another name of Edo, Itokukuri, or Yae-beni-torano-o. Somei-yoshinos at Harima-zaka Slope were finishing. Only one Kanzan on the slope was half bloom. Then I dropped at Koishikawa Botanical Garden. Somei-yoshinos were finishing but Fugenzo, Ichiyos and late blooming single white cherries were blooming beautifully. Fugenzo::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Ichiyo::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Mikado-yoshino:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Somei-nioi Nishina-zao started blooming yellow flowers. Showa-zakura which is burying Amagi-yoshino (#310) was blooming beautifully. Amagi-yoshino is now in the shadow of Showa-zakura. I wonder Amagi-yoshino can bloom next spring. Osomiyako started blooming down near the ponds. It looked like Fugenzo for me. Some other trees were showing beautiful flowers. Oni-momiji and Iroha-momijis were blooming,too.
★A Day Trip to Chichibu on April 1, 2021 (No.1) When Somei-yoshinos in Tokyo and around finish, Chichibu, Saitama prefecture, becomes beautiful with cherries. So we had a day trip to Chichibu. We took an express train to Chichibu station then took a Chichibu Line train to Nagatoro. Nagatoro is famous for River George and Japanese style rafting, but there weren’t many people. We aimed to Hodo-san (Mt. Hodo, 497M) Ropeway through Notuchi-yama (Mt Notsuchi 209M). This year Somei-yoshinos started very early but they lack the pink color and looked almost white. Approach to Hodosan Shrine From Nagatoro California Poppy Garden to Notuchi-yama Notsuchi-yama is a hill covered with 500 cherries, mostly Somei-yoshinos. We went up the ropeway. To my surprise, Somei-yoshinos on the Mt Hodo were also peek bloom. Usually when cherries down are blooming, they don’t start blooming and early blooming cherries are blooming. We got down the ropeway. Yama-zakuras were blooming on the side of the mountain. Near the down station of the ropeway, there is a double cherry spot. But no double cherries were blooming yet.
★A Day Trip to Chichibu on April 1, 2021 (No,2) After we got down, we visited Hodo-san Shrine for the first time. Then we went back to Nagatoro station. During waiting for a train, we visited cherry-lined road at the other side of the station a little. It is 2.5Km road of rows of cherry trees. Usually there are traffic jams of cars but it was so quiet. After we went back to Chichibu station, we headed to Hituji-yama Park. It is famous for Shiba-zakura, moss phlox. It was too early for moss phlox but it has about 1000 cherry trees. It was rather too late of the day but Somei-yoshinos and Yae-beni-shidares were making beautiful contrast.
I think Chichibu is my favourite of all your trips so far! It's amazing seeing these photos with so few people.
Thank you, Wendy. I'm glad you like Chichibu. It's a very good spot for cherry viewing. As I posted on #54, in 2010., there are early blooming cherry spots, like Shidare-zakura. I haven't posted but it has double cherry garden at the bottom of the ropeway. Yes, it was so quiet this time. Usually there are full of people on the approach to the shrine and the cherry lined road and it's hard to take boating tickets. But this time it was too quiet and no boating tour was operated. It was between the second and third State of Emergency but not many people visited there. I'm sorry I didn't reply soon. Now I have to post my Kyoto trip this spring. But I couldn't yet. Japanese likes flower viewing. After cherries finish, then it's time for Japanese azaleas, then wisterias. When they finish, it's time for roses. Now we are in the season of Hydrangeas and Japanese Irises. I visited Kamakura again on June 1,2021. Meigetsu-in Temple Large budda of Hase Hasedera temple ,
On March 27, 2022, Somei-yoshino became Full-bloom in Tokyo (First Posting of 2022) I’m sorry I didn’t post anything. I was very very busy for I had a full-time temporally job from September last year to this March. It has almost finished now. We had rather very cold winter until the end of February, but it became very warm from the beginning of March. The addition of the highest temperatures of the day from February 1st just overed 400 degrees on March 7th. But it overed 600 degrees, the addition standard to start blooming of Somei-yoshino on March 19th. I saw some buds of Somei-yoshino started blooming on that day. Meteorological Agency declared the blooming of standard tree at Yasukuni shrine the next day, on March 20th, 2022. Cherry Blossom Forecast 2022 Japan-guide.com Somei-yoshinos in Tokyo became full bloom on March 27th, 2022. Unfortunately, it was cloudy but I visited Koishikawa Botanical Garden in the morning. Somei-yoshinos were full bloom. People were having picnic lunch under the trees, which were forbidden last spring because of COVID-19. This year there was a kitchen car selling food for the first time there. Young Beni-shidare became big enough and showing healthy condition. Then I went to my parents’ house in Ichikawa. I rode a bicycle to Suido-bashi Station. I found a few young cherry trees around a new high-rise building. One was Yoko, the cherry tree with dark pink petals which blooms just a little earlier than Somei-yoshino. One was Edo-higan, which has smaller flowers and blooms a little earlier than Somei-yoshino. There was one cherry trees which had beautiful flowers a little bigger than Edo-higan with tinted pink petals. On my way to my parents’, I saw cherries at Junsai Pond Park. Somei-yoshinos were full bloom. One Beni-shidare was blooming beautifully. Yokos there were also beautiful. But some of the Somei-yoshinos became wrong condition and they luck their beauty they had before.
Mariko, you're back! The highlight of this group is the "young 'Beni-shidare'" that is larger than any I've seen.
Cherries at Yoyogi Park & around Shibuya Station on March 28th,(No.1) On March 28, 2022, I visited Yoyogi Park and Shibuya. I used to live in Shibuya-ku about 25 years ago. At that time, I didn’t like Yoyogi Park so much, because it’s too crowded with young people and noisy. Now it was all right with COVID-19. The lawn of the Cherry Garden was closed with fences, so people can’t have Hanami Party with alcohol. We could really enjoy blossoms. But there were still a lot of crows for the left-over lunch and they were noisy. Fountains were not operated and a crow was bathing there. There are NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai, Japan Broadcast) buildings next to the park. There are a few cherries there and there is one in front of National Sport Centers. There is a small Yae-beni-shidare in front of Sibuya City Hall. I aimed to Shibuya Station but I didn’t see any until the famous Scramble Crossing at northwest side of Shibuya station. There are two Somei-yoshinos and one white Sidare-zakura around a stature of a famous dog, Hachiko.
Cherries at Yoyogi Park & around Shibuya Station on March 28th,(No.2) Beautiful cherry slope locates at the southwest side of the station. There are about 30 Somei-yoshinos on both side of the narrow street of 200 meters. They made a tunnel of blossoms. They were so beautiful. I had a lunch at a café near the end of the cherry tunnel looking one small cherry tree. Then I waked to the east side of Yamanote line and found that dark cherries were planted both side of Meiji-dori avenue for about half kilometer. They were Yokos. Yokos started a a little earlier than Somei-yoshinos and now they were beyond the peek bloom. I walked to the northeast of the station. There used to be a long narrow park beside the railroad. I found Miyashita Park had changed to a roof top garden of the commercial building. There were several small cherry tree in front of the entrance. I went up to the rooftop, but there were gardens, bouldering park and skateboarding park there, but there were no cherries planted there.
Somei-yoshinos at Sobu Country Club on March 29, 2022 I went golfing to Sobu Country Club in Chiba on March 29th. Somei-yoshinos were full bloom even in Chiba. It was a cold cloudy day but Somei-yoshinos showed more pinky color under cloudy sky and they were more beautiful than ever before. They look whiter on the pictures, but they looked pinky color like Sakura-mochi sweets. To say Sakura-mochi sweets, this year they started to sell soft-ice-cream of Sakura-mochi taste. It tastes better than sakura taste. But it is not so common. Young Yae-beni-shidares have just started blooming.
On March 30,2022, Suwada Park & Mama-san Temple in Ichkawa, Chiba (No.1) It's already April 11th and Somei-yoshino finished in Tokyo. Today, the temperature went up to 26.2 degrees in Tokyo. It was the first summer day of this year. But still I haven't write what I saw in March. I'm way behind the date. March 30 was the last day of my job as a junior high school English teacher. It finished in the morning, so I had a cherry walk around the school in the afternoon. The approach to the school is Cherry Lane. Most of the old schools in Ichkawa which was build soon after the World War Ⅱ have cherry lanes. Beside the cherry lane, there is a local park called Suwada Park just next to the school. It is a park located on the hill. It was a very good location for the ancient people, too. Remains of the houses in late Yayoi period (1to 2 century) were found there. Now it locally famous for cherries and roses. Cherries there were probably first planted about 75 years ago, soon after the World War Ⅱwhen school system changed and new junior high schools were made. There are some old Somei-yoshinos but most of them became wrong condition. I heard many were removed and new young cherries were replanted several years ago. Now they became good condition. There also planted more than 10 Autumnalises. They were having spring flowers. Spring flowers are larger than Autumn flower and 3 cm in diameter. They had Autumn flowers in the middle of November. I took pictures in early morning before I went to school, but early sunshine wasn’t good enough to take good pictures. They had small pink flowers.
On March 30,2022, Suwada Park & Mama-san Temple in Ichkawa, Chiba (No.2) Then I visited Tekona-Reihaido Temple. It is a temple to enshrine a legend girl Tekona. Poets inspired by her story were written in Manyo-syu, 8th century anthology of Japanese poetry. There were a small beni-shidare, worth viewing and a few Somei-yoshinos not in good shape there. Then I visited Mama-san Guho-ji temple. It is on the hill. I visited there to see a large shidare-zakura in 2012. It was 400-year-old Shidare-zakura called Fuse-hime-zakura and blooming beautifully. (#84) But old shidare-zakura there became wrong condition because of very dry autumn two years ago. Next to old Shidare-zakura, there was young Yae-beni-shidare blooming in better condition. Somei-yoshinos were fulland beautiful. There planted a few new Yokos finishing. There was one younger but mature enough shidare-zakura in other part of the temple.
It’s already April 21, 2022. Even Double cherries in the suburb of Tokyo finished. Today I visited Tohoku region to see cherries at Turuga-jo catsle. But I haven’t finished posting of cherries at school I worked. So I still continue to post cherries I saw on March 30. 2022. Suwada Park & Mama-san Temple in Ichkawa, Chiba on March 30,2022(No.3) On my back to school, I walked beside the Mama River. Mama River used to be famous for Sakura but now some remains of Somei-yoshinos were blooming beautifully. I found a small shrine there. These cherries on Mama River here are only less than 100 meters but there is a culvert road which used to be a branch of Mama River nearby. There is a line of Somei-yoshinos there, too. There aren’t so many Somei-yoshinos at the school I worked. Only a few cherries are in front of the students’ entrance and a good-shaped cherry is near the back entrance. It has a line of Kansans, not good shape, but they hadn’t started blooming yet. That day I found a few weeping cherries located beside the net might be Sendai-shidares. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed my cherry walk very much.
It‘s May 1, 2022 Today. Now most of the cherries finished and only cherries in Hokaido and some highland & mountains are still blooming. My cherry quest has finished this year. Now I’ll post cherries I saw this spring. My trip to Kyoto from March 31 to April 2, 2022. Day 1-1 On March 31, the next day after I finished my job, we visited Kyoto for three days. The trip was first planed the next week, but we changed the schedule. The news said Somei-yoshinos in Kyoto became full bloom on March 30 and last year when we visited Kyoto most of cherries were finished. The weather wasn’t good on March 31 in Kyoto, but cherries were in perfect bloom. On March 31, we visited Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kyoto Botanical Garden, Heian Shrine and the illumination of To-ji Temple. On April 1, we visited To-ji Temple in the daylight, then Daigo ji Temple, Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Daigo-ji again for the illumination. On April 2, we visited temples in Arashi-yama. Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Gyoen) I visited there to see early blooming Shidare-zakuras in Konoe Garden in 2013. (#98) They were beautiful this year, too. At that time, I didn’t see so many cherries out of Konoe Garden but this time I found many Yama-zakura kind of cherries there. I saw Hana-momo, flowering peaches, too. Weeping cherries were blooming there, too Before we couldn’t enter Gosho, the real palace section, without taking reservation. But from 2016, we can enter inside the palace garden. There weren’t many cherries there but we could see the palace buildings from outside. Some of them are the same style buildings from Heian period, the period between 794 and 1185 AD. There is Sakon-no-sakura on the right side in front of Shishinden, the main building where official important ceremonies were held. There are many buildings and inside gardens there. We can see cherries worth viewing only in the garden near the exit of the Gosho.
My trip to Kyoto from March 31 to April 2, 2022. Day 1-2 Next, we visited Kyoto Botanical Garden which locates near Kamo River. There are a line of Yae-beni-shidares by the river but they didn’t start blooming yet. Only a few Beni-shidares were blooming. When you enter the botanical garden, you’ll see the green houses and beds of red tulips in front of cherry forest. There are about 500 cherry trees of 170 cultivars. But most of cherries were rather young and not big. There were Accolade. Akebono (in Japan it is called America), Yoko and Mame-zakura there. Yoko:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Mame-zakura There were many cherries which are new to me. Sakuya-hime:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Shidare-somei-yoshino Fuji-shidare There is a large Shidare-zakura which is a daughter of famous Gion-shidare in Maruyama park near Hokusen Gate. It looked nice but some brunches became wrong condition. I have first visited there in 2013. But I couldn’t post those pictures because I took too many pictures and mixed up. At that time it was very good condition. After I came back, I knew there was a cherry map which shows the place of 27 cherries of their recommendation. Next time I will check those.
My trip to Kyoto from March 31 to April 2, 2022. Day 1-3 Heian-Shrine and Shin-en Garden Then we went Heian Shrine. It’s not an old shrine. It was built in 1895. But it is a beautiful red shrine with a famous garden called Shin-en. It’s beautiful with seasonal flowers. I like the shrine and almost every time I visited Kyoto, I had a look. It is famous for Yae-beni-shidares. It was a little early for Yae-beni-shidare but my husband hadn’t visit there in cherry season, so we visited this time. Yae-beni-shidare had already started blooming. I thought they were 30 % bloom. But Yae-beni-shidare there were getting worse condition as I visited. When I visited there after I came back in March 26, 2013, it was too early to see blooming, but trees looked healthy and had a lot of buds. The next year I visited again on April 9, 2014, they were blooming beautifully. (Sorry, I couldn’t post them. I post some beautiful pictures of that time.) But when I visited there in June 2020, Yae-beni-shidares became wrong condition. I’m not sure but extremely dry autumn and winter in 2019 might damaged the cherries. Somei-yoshinos planted both sides of Biwako-ryusui Canal were full bloom. Sight-seeing boats were operated during cherry blossom season. I think those cherries were also better condition in 2014. 2022 2014
My trip to Kyoto from March 31 to April 2, 2022. Day 1-4 To-ji Temple lighting-up (Wikipedia) We had a light meal at the café near Heian Shrine before going for illumination. We like the Café because the celling is very high and roomy. It is good for life with COVID-19. There coffee is rather expensive but you can drink a glass of sparkling wine as a same price. (It was 770 yen.) To-ji temple was full of cherries. It was very very beautiful. I think I hadn’t seen illumination at such a peek bloom time. We felt there were only cherry trees in the garden. Unfortunately the pictures can’t show the beauty of the cherries at night.
My trip to Kyoto from March 31 to April 2, 2022. Day 2-1 To-ji Temple in the daylight At the illumination, To-ji Temple was so full of cherries as I’d never seen and we felt there were not many other trees in the garden. In other season, we saw a lots of maples and other trees, so we decided to check in the morning. It was only about 8 minutes walk from our hotel. (We usually stay at the hotels between To-ji and Kyoto station because they are convenient.) Cherries were beautiful at To-ji. There were more other plants but most of them hadn’t started. Maple and other greenery start when Somei-yoshinos are finishing. Also at the cherry light-up, they put lights only for the cherries. The To-ji Gate and the views from the parking lots The symbolic cherry of To-ji garden is called Fuji-zakura. It was replanted in 2006 as 1200th anniversary of Kobo-daishi‘s return from China. Kukai, Kobo-daishi, is the Buddhist monk who went to Chaina in early Heian Period and made a Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism after he came back. He also became a top monk of To-ji Temple once. The tree is Yae-beni-shidare of 13 meter high and 10 meter wide. It was more than 120 years old and still young and healthy. Inside the paid area Somei-yoshinos looked very white at that day but there were some other really white cherries. We enjoyed cherries and Buddhist statures in the halls.
Wendy, do you feel so? I just thought it’s healthy and young. But it's really upright and the supporting posts are standing vertical like columns for making a building, as you said.
Here is what I see on my screen - the temple in the first line of photos, then the tree right below - similar horizontal tiers, and the central post. A tree temple. :)