So poignant - the Vancouver Sun ran a series of photos with the heading: Photos: In Japan, life goes on Cherry trees blossom in the midst of devastation from the tsunami in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/golf/Japan+life+goes/4653157/story.html#ixzz1KDErZUo3
First Posting of 2012 I'm very sorry I couldn't post for a long time. I was busy and I had a difficulty for internet access and still I can't use my new PC well. But I had wrote some this winter. So I’d like to post what I wrote before I start new spring posting. Wrote at the end of January Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Snow Tokyo is having a colder winter than usual. It snowed a bit on the night of January 23 and some snow is still here and there. On the next day (January 24), I visited Koishikawa Botanical Garden. Everything was covered with snow and shining beautifully in the sun. I found Himaraya-zakura (Himalayan Cherry) was reddish brown and still had flowers on the branches. For 2 seasons it started blooming at the beginning of December or before and finished in the middle of December, then showed fresh green leaves during winter. But this winter flowers started to come out in the middle of December and they are still in bloom. People there said frost affected flowers and leaves. They are not healthy this year. Last year we had a very warm winter. Ume (Mume, Japanese apricot) was blooming at the New Year time and Kan-zakura had already started blooming on January 9. But this year I could only find a few half opened flowers on the branches of Kan-zakura and no Mume started blooming. Even Camellias had not started blooming. Sazanka, Autumn blooming Camellias were still blooming there. Except Sazanka, nothing were blooming and the garden was very quiet. This winter is very very dry, too. Before the snow on January 23, we didn’t have any rain for 35 days. And after the snow we haven’t have any rain. A Shortage of water might affect cherry flowers in spring. Also we had very warm autumn last year. It prevented the preperation of cherry buds.
In Tokyo, weather suddenly changed and it has been very warm about a week. Now Somei-yoshino started blooming. But still I have things I wrote before. (written in February) Tokyo is having colder winter than usual. On February 18, I visited Koishikawa Botanical garden to see Kan-zakura. But it was still the condition of just started blooming. It was very different from last year (January 9)and the year before the last(February 14) . Cold winter affected Himraya-zakura badly. It is huddled up against the cold. Leaves are reddish green-brown and small. Last year it was healthy and green.
Written on March 11; On March 11, Kanza-zakura at Koishikawa Botanical Garden finally became full bloom. It is unbelievably slow. Last year and the year before the last, it became full bloom in the middle of February. Tokyo had a very very warm autumn last year. Even at the end of November, the temperature sometimes rose over 20 degree. It prevented cherries from preparing for next spring. Then suddenly very cold winter started and stayed very long. Now it is in March, the early spring month in Japan, but we are still having rather cold days. Mumes (Japanese apricots) are very slow, too. I think they are one month behind usual. Weeping type of Mume hasn't bloomed yet. Buds of Somei-yoshinos are still very hard and it will take long time before blooming.
April 7; Somei-yoshino Full Bloom Somei-yoshino became full bloom on Saturday, April 7 . It was very beautiful morning, but when I went to Koishikawa botanical Garden, it became cloudy and not as beautiful as it should be. Then I went to my in-law's. There also Somei -yoshinos were full bloom and beautiful. Tokyo had very cold days till March 26. I went to Shinjuku Gyoen Park that day and found early blooming cherries like Kawazu-zakura was still blooming and O-kan-zakura was just started. Yoko hadn’t started blooming at all and buds of Somei-yoshinos’ were very hard yet. But from the next day, March 27, weather changed and became rather warm. Temperature started to boom up to 20 degrees. On the evening of March 30, I noticed Somei-yoshinos on Harima-zaka Road started to bloom. (I went Koishikawa Botanical Garden just before I went to Harima-zaka for shopping and found buds of Somei-yoshinos’ were still hard) At Harima-zaka Koishikawa Botanical garden Somei-yoshino became full bloom in very short time this year. This year spring was slow and this kind of year, we’ll have very short cherry blossom season.
Now I started working and in Tokyo gardens close at 4:30!! So I couldn’t visit any famous garden this year. But I found "Tokyo Cherry Blossom Report" in English. You can enjoy beautiful pictures taken by professionals. April 9, 2012
Now Im working at reclaimed part of Ichikawa city in Chiba Prefecture where not many big cherries exist. So on April 9, I visited old part of Ichikawa to see a 400-year-old cherry after work. It locates at a temple called Mama-san Guho-ji. It can trace back to 737 AD. It locates on the top of the stairs. san of Mama-san is same as Fuji-san and it means mountain. Most of temples have san in their name even if they locate on flat land. I think mountains means sacred places where gods and sprits live. There is a gate and a belfry. Now the main building is made of concrete. 400-year-old cherry is Shidare-zakura called Fuse-hime-zakura. It means lying princess.Shidare-zakura is a weeping kind of Edo-higan. Calyx shapes are urceolate like beads are inside. There is a Yae-beni-shidare tree near by. There are many Somei-yoshino trees near by and in the graveyard. There are a small temple and one small shidare-zakura and a cherry looks like Sendai-shidare are in the garden.
Today is already April 30 and already all the cherrys, even Kanzan and Fgenzo finished in Tokyo. And now Somei-yoshinos are full bloom in Tohoku region, northern part on main island of Japan. But I post I couldn't post before. On Monday, April 10. Somei -yoshinos were at the peek bloom everywhere around Tokyo. I visited Chidori -ga -fuchi Moat to see illumination of cherries. This year, cherries were a bit behind the schedule and illumination was extended until April 10. So I thought not many people knew it. But there were so many people and it was very crowded. But Cherries were so beautiful!! They were just beyond the peek bloom and we could see some petals on the water. My camera couldn't take the atmosphere well. But still they are beautiful!
Gyotoku area, where I’m working now, locates in the south part of Ichikawa City, next to Urayasu city. Urayasu had severe damage of liquefaction soon after the earthquake last year. Gyotoku is also reclaimed land but it is older than Urayasu. Anyway there aren’t famous cherry trees, but Somei-yoshinos were full bloom in schools, kinder garden, and condos on April 10, 2012. But one school has a lot of Oshima-zakuras around school. It was the first time I had seen school surrounded by Oshima. There is one Yama-zakura in the garden. Near-by one Yoko was blooming. Yoko is early blooming cherry so it was unusual to bloom with Somei-yoshinos.
First Posting of 2013 March 2nd, 2013, Kanzakura in Full Bloom in Koishikawa Botanical Garden (I’m sorry. I’m much behind the date!!) I visited Koishikawa Botanical Garden on March 2, 2013 and finally found Kan-zakura there was almost full bloom. No other cherries had started yet and only some Mumes (Japanese Apricots) were blooming. The Garden looked like still winter. The Himalayan cherry which must show young green leaves in winter was miserable condition. I couldn’t see any signs of life in the tree. This year we were having very cold winter from the beginning of December 2012. Himaraya-zakura which usually blooms in December bloomed in January. Then it snowed about 13 cm (that means rather heavy snow in the center part of Tokyo) on January 14 and because of the coldness snow stayed very long. These are the pictures I took on January 19, after 5 days. We could see some snow until February 1st. From Februay 2, we sometimes had a few warm days but basically it stayed cold. I hope it survives this winter, too.
March 8, Koishikawa Botanical Garden in spring colors From March 3, it warmed up suddenly and the highest temperatures often went over 17 degrees. On March 8, I visited the Botanical Garden again. Suddenly some cherries are started to show colors. Kan-zakura was now really in full bloom or a bit beyond the peek. Kanhi-zakura (Cerasus campanulata) showed colors and just a few flowers opened. Two small cherries which have the signs of Soshun-zakura had just some flowers open. Okan-zakura even had some flowers open. Mumes became nearly peak bloom. Kawazu-zakura on Harima-zaka Road (outside of the garden) was full bloom, too.
March 11 was a very beautiful day. But unfortunately it was Monday and Higashi-Gyoen of the Imperial Palace was not open. So I walked from Takebashi Station to Kitanomaru Park and saw early blooming cherries. There are 6 Kanhi-zakura by the moat. Kanhi-zakura is native to Taiwan and Okinawa. Okan-zakura near the police box had just started blooming. There were 2 Himaraya-hizakura blooming near the Cherry Garden in the Kitanomaru Park. They looked like Kanhi-zakura from far but they were blooming with young leaves. There also Kanhi-zakuras were blooming. In Cherry garden, Kan-zakura had finished and miserable fuyu-zakuras were still blooming. 1 Kawazu-zakura one was beyond the peak bloom but the other one was blooming beautifully. There was one unknown cherry which didnt have a name plate. It looked like Himawaya-hizakura a bit but it bloomed without leaves. It also has longer pedicels than Kanhi-zakura. At Chidoriga-fuchi Moat buds of the Somei-yoshino became green. I thought they would start blooming in a week. There were some small cherries blooming there. They looked like Kawazu-zakura, but they have name plates of Shuzenji-kanzakura. The small book of Gakken says Shuzenji-kanzakura has smooth sepals and even colored petals. Kawazu-zakura has serrated sepals and shaded colored petals. There is an unnamed cherry blooming there. It has plenty of small flowers. In War Memorial, there were 4 beautiful cherries which looked like Okan-zakura. On my way to the garden I saw Shina-mizakura (Cerasus pseudocerasas) in a school ground and when I came back I saw it in Jinbo-cho. .
Koishikawa Botanical Garden on March 15. (I'm still very much behind the date!) We are having very warm and funny spring. On March 10, the temperature rose sharply over 25 degrees in Tokyo. In Fukuoka and Miyazaki prefecture, Somei-yoshino started to bloom on March 13. The Somei-yoshino near my condo had a few flowers open on March 15. But the Meteorological Agency announced the blooming of the standard tree in Tokyo on March 16. On March 15 after I saw flowers of Somei-yoshino, I visited Koishikawa Botanical Garden. There were no Somei-yoshinos blooming. But the garden changed a lot. Kanhi-zakura was in full bloom. Kanzaki-oshima had started blooming. Soshun-zakuras which had just started blooming on March 8 was beyond the peak bloom. Okan-zakuras were blooming beautifully. Azaleas were blooming beautifully and Kan-zakura became green. Many Magnolia kobus were blooming and Tosa-mizuki (Corylopis spicata),too.
March 19,2013 It was a very beautiful day, I went to Higashi-gyoen ( East Garden of Imperial Palace ) and Kitanomaru Park with my friends. Several shidare-zakuras at Ote Gate started blooming but they were not in good shape because of strong pruning. Somei -yoshinos were not so much blooming but in Ninomaru Garden, Koshino-higans were blooming beautifully. It looks pink from far, but petals are white color. Dark pink sepals and calyxes made flowers looks pink. In Honmaru (Main Circle) area, Amagi-yoshinos were blooming beautifully. It has large flowers. At one corner, 4 kind of cherries were making gradation of pale pink. Far left is Edo-higan tree, just started to bloom. It has white to pale pink petals. But because of dark pink sepals and calyxes wade the tree looks dark pink. The next one was Koshino-higan, full bloom. It was one of the wild varieties of Edo-higan specific to Koshi Province. Its flowers are bigger than usual Edo-higan. The tree behind Koshino-higan was Ko-higan. "Ko" of Ko-higan means “small”. It is a hybrid of Edo-higan and Mame-zakura. It can be only 2 to 3 meters and its flowers are also small. The far right was Somei-yoshino which was just started to bloom. Its sepals and calyxes aren’t dark pink so it looks whiter from far. There were Shidare-zakura and Kanhi-zakura. Ryukyu-kanhi-zakura was finishing. Oshima-zakura on the base of Tenshukaku hasn't started yet. I haven't seen it blooming yet!! There were more doble cherries to come. Niwa-ume (Prunus japonica) was blooming beautifully. Hana-momos (Prunus persica) were beautiful in front of Toukagakudo building. Also we saw flowering peaches called Yakan, too. There were many other flowers like haru-sazanka(Camellia x vernalis), Mitsumata (Edgeworthia chrysantha) and Magnolias blooming. We went out of the East Garden from Kita-hanebashi-mon Gate. There beautiful pink cherry looked like Yoko (no name plate) was blooming.Okan-zakura near the police box became full bloom. Cherry Garden in Kitanomaru Park changed a lot in only 7 days. Somei-yoshinos there were blooming more. But in Kitanomaru Garden, they weren’t blooming so much. Just Beni-shidares were started to bloom. Somei-yoshinos in Chidoriga-fuchi Moat began to bloom beautifully.
March 22、2013, Part 1. Hama-rikyu Park and Water Bus to Sumida Park Somei -yoshino became more than half bloom in Tokyo now and I had a cherry walk with my friend. First we went to Hama-rikyu Park where I visited with Linda Poole for illumination. The park was very beautiful under day light.Canola were blooming beautifully. There were Somei -yoshinos. But there weren't so many cherries blooming.There were Oshima and Yama-zakura. Japanese Maples were started to show green or reddish leaves. At one corner Somei -yoshino, Hana-momos (flowering peaches) and one delicate looking cherry were making beautiful contrast of colors. I went close to check the delicate cherry and was surprised. Became it was Autumnalis (Left tree) full bloom in spring condition. Hana-momo (Flowering Peach,Prunus persica ) were cute and pretty. There were many cherries still not blooming. Hama-rikyu is famous for double cherries. I hope to come and report them. Then we took a river bus to go up Sumida River from Hama-rikyu to Senso-ji Temple. There are some cherry spots by the river. It takes about 50 minutes and it goes under 13 bridges. We enjoyed our ride. We got off the ship at Senso-ji. There is a very famous Hanami spot on both sides of Sumida River. Hanami at Sumida River Park has been very famous since the middle of Edo Period. Now there are about 600 cherry trees in the area. Also Tokyo Skytree, TV tower of 634 meter, was built the other side of Senso-ji last year. Now we can see Tokyo Sky tree and cherries when you get off the river bus. We walked by the river watching cherries. Cherries there are mostly Somei -yoshino but there were some Shidare-zakura, too. Also I saw some Okan- zakura beyond the peak bloom. They became dark pink color and looked very different. There are also some Beni-shidare.
It’s already April 8, now Somei-yoshino finished completely and Double Cherries are beautiful. We are enjoying new leaves of Maples and Japanese zelkovas and so on. But I’m still writing about March 22. Sorry. March 22、2013, Part 2. Senso-ji & Skytree Then we walked to Senso-ji Temple from the side gate and worshiped gods. It locates in Asakusa. Senso-ji is the most popular spot for people from overseas. We went to Dempo-in Temple located inside Senso-ji compound. It is famous for Japanese garden with cherries. Two Beni-shidares were at the peak bloom and very beautiful. It is a circuit style garden making use of the surrounding landscape in the design of a garden. It isn’t big but the view changes when you walk around. There were other things to see in Denpo-in. We browsed Nakamise shops a bit. Then we decided to visit Tokyo Skytree and took a train to the next station. After we arrived there we knew it was so crowded and we had to wait for 2 and half hours. We gave up climbing Skytree and had a drink at the restaurant on the 31st floor in the connecting building. We enjoyed our walk very much.
March 23, 2013 Mitsu-ike Park & Sankei-en Park On Saturday, March 23, I went to Mitsu-ike Park & Sankeien Park with my husband for the first time. Both locate in Yokohama City and it took more than 1 hour to get there using trains and a bus. The website says Mitsu-ike Park has over 1600 cherry trees of 78 varieties in the land of 73 acre. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rather cold but Somei-yoshinos were full bloom in Tokyo and Yokohama. In spite of bad weather a lot of people came to the park. Mitsu-ike means 3 ponds. It is a prefectural park. There are many cherries planted around the ponds and on the slopes around the ponds. So when you walk, the scenery changes. It must be very beautiful under blue sky. There were some dark pink cherries standing up very much. They were Yokohama-hizakura, I thought petals are a bit darker pink than Yoko. It is a hybrid of Kenroken-Kumagai and Kanhi-zakura. It was made by a man lived in Yokohama. So they use it for the prefectural park . Mitsu-ike Park is a park for cherry lovers. Not only there are so many cultivars, but also most of the cherries have name plates. You can compare cherries very easily. Oshima There were some double cherries which had just started to bloom. Usugasane-oshima Yae-beni-oshima Beni-yutaka Then we went to Sankeien Garden. It is one of the most famous gardens in Yokohama Prefecture. It originally was a private property owned by a very wealthy businessman. He designed the garden himself and brought the buildings of historical importance from places like Kyoto and Kamakura and rebuilt them in his garden of 175,000㎡(≒43 acre). He opened his garden to the public in 1906. When we arrived there, it became darker because of cloudy weather. It wasn't good for photos. Also it isn't a garden for cherry quest. Most of the cherries there were Somei -yoshino, Shidare- zakura Yama-zakura and some cherries like Oshima, but no name plates. The handout said there were 3 rare cherries from Gifu Prefecture, but I couldn't find them. But it is a nice landscape Garden and you can see old Japanese style houses. So it is good for foreigners who don't have time to visit other places. Young leaves of Japanese maple started to come out when Somei-yoshino became full bloom.
It's April 17, 2013 today. In Tokyo, because of unusual warm spring weather, cherries were very quick and almost all the cherries, even Kanzans and Fugenzos finished now. So nowadays I had to go very far to take pictures of cherries. Today I took a bus tour to Fukushima. Fukushima prefecture was beaten by the earthquake and nuclear disaster two years ago. Ocean side parts still have a long way to go, but inner parts tried hard to restore their former life. Today I saw Taki-Zakura in Miharu ( center part of Fukushima Prefecture ). It is one of three most famous cherry trees which lived more than 1000 years. Also I went to Hanami-yama in Fukushima city ( northern part of Fukushima prefecture ). It is a hill with many kinds of flowers( not only cherries). I'll report details of the trip later. I'm not working this year so I went so many places almost every day. I was too busy and too tired to post those. I haven't posted even my trip to Kyoto on March 25 and 26. But today will be the last outing because I can't go farther without using bullet trains or planes. I promise to report those trips and double cherries in Tokyo area . For three years, I posted early blooming cherries and some ones blooming with Somei-yoshinos, but not double cherries. There are too many kinds of double cherries and I became behind the time and cherry scouts season finished before I post about double cherries. But this year I will even cherry season finishes. So I apologize first that my posting will be out of time.
Hi Mariko! I was just about to include the Miharu Taki-zakura in cherry notes for the VanDusen Guides. It is a Beni-shidare-zakura and of course, VanDusen has 25 of them in the garden. The guides might take special interest if they thought one of the 25 could make it to a thousand years. Can you confirm that Taki-zakura means the Waterfall Cherry? Do the other two trees in the top three have their own names and addresses too? Thank you for your strong eyes and notes on the sakura home front.
Hi, Anne! Yes! Taki means waterfall. So Taki-zakura (google translation of japanese Wikipedia site)means the Waterfall Cherry. And it is a Beni-shidare but it isn’t grafted so I don’t think VanDusen ones can live so long. But it is still same cultivar cherry. Yes, they do have their own names. One is Yamataka Jindai-zakura in Yamanashi Prefecture. It is the oldest cherry tree in Japan which is supposed to live about 2000 years. The other one is Neodani Usuzumi-zakura in Gifu Prefecture. It is supposed to live about 1500 years. Both are Edo-higan but not weeping. The Google translation of Japanese site about famous cherries and cherry site (Google translation is always very wrong. But still you can see pictures I believe.) Varieties of cherry blossom
Day 1 of my trip to Kyoto (Part 3 Kyoto Gyoen) Then I took a bus to the Imperial palace (Kyoto Gyoen). Most of the palace garden is closed for public. We have to apply beforehand to enter the main part. But Konoe Garden locates outside of the closed garden (near North-west corner) and very close to the North Gate. It was a marvelous sight. There were at least 20 grown-up Shidare- zakuras blooming and 10 Yae-bebi-shidare ( can be Beni-shidare) not blooming yet. Every Shidare- zakura have their own shapes. There are 4 types of flowers. They can divide into 2 by size and shape of petals, small and narrow ones like Beni-shidare in VanDusen and a little wider and bigger ones. Some of them might be the different stage of blooming of 2 kinds of trees or all of them can be different. (I haven’t kept my eyes on 1 Beni-shidare for the change of colors.) White & wide petals Tinted pink and wide petals Tinted pink and narrow petals White and narrow petals with leaves There was a corner where some Hana-momos (flowering peaches) were blooming in front of Yama-zakuras. I took too many pictures and became short of batteries. So I went back to the hotel to charge them before going to illuminations.
Day 1 of my trip to Kyoto (Part 2 Kitano-tenmangu Shrine & Senbon Shakado Temple ) Then I walked to Kitano-tenmangu Shrine. It is famous for Mume, Japanese apricot. Unfortunately they had almost finished. But there must be some ceremony and a shrine maiden was dancing in a shrine and small girls were clothes and hairstyle of Heian Period. It was very interesting. Outside of the temple, there were many stalls selling clothes and antiques. There were old style Kyoto houses, too. Then I walked to Senbon-shakado Temple. It is famous for the cherry tree called Okame-zakura. It really is a Shidare-zakura but named after a woman who killed herself on behalf of her husband's job. It wasn't an old cherry tree, but it was a most healthy and well-shaped one I've ever seen. The branches were almost touching the ground. It looked same from all direction. There's a stature of Okame at the back of the tree.
Day 1 of my trip to Kyoto (Part 1 Kinkaku-ji Temple & Hirano Shrine ) I had two-days-trip to Kyoto to see cherries on March 25 and 26. In Tokyo we had a strange warm weather and Somei-yoshino started blooming on March16.(tie to the earliest record in 2002) The Meteorological Agency declared Somei-yoshino became full bloom on March 22.(just one day later than the earliest record in 2002) But unfortunately in Kyoto weather stayed as usual. Somei-yoshino started to bloom on March 23, just 2 days earlier than usual. So on March 25th, Somei-yoshinos were just 10 to 20 percent bloom and not worth viewing. But there are many famous Sidare-zakuras in Kyoto and some early blooming cherries. Kyoto Tower at Kyoto Station I bought one day pass of Kyoto bus lines and arrived at the hotel in Shijo-Karasuma about noon. I went to the Tourist Desk and got the information of the place where cherries were worth looking and the light up had started. After I had a quick lunch, I took a bus to Kinkakuji Temple. It is famous for the Golden Pavilion. It wasn't a recommendation for cherries but I thought I should have seen it when I came to Kyoto. There were some Somei–yoshinos not blooming. The Golden Pavilion was worth viewing just once, but not for cherry lovers. There was just 1 Edo-higan blooming but no other cherries. Then I took a bus to Hirano Shrine. It is only famous for cherries especially for early blooming ones. This was my first visit so I went in from the back gate. There Yokos, Autumnalis, Kobuku-zakura (I’m not quite sure) and Higan-zakura were blooming. Also Somei-yoshinos there were blooming more than other places. There were many stalls under cherries. There was a wonderful shaped Shidare-zakura near the main shrine. Also there were 1 Beni-shidare by the path from the main gate and 1 shidare-zakura near the gate to main Hall. In the main shrine, there was a famous Momo-zakura finishing. It is said to bloom first in Kyoto. It’s another name of Shinami-zakura. Main Hall and Small shrine in the Main Shrine Momo-zakura Also there were many kinds of Cherry trees. Every tree had a name plate. But names were not always correct. Some Autumnalis has plates of Kan-zakura and others have plates of Jugatsu-zakura etc. There were some rare double cherries like Kocyo, Ouchiyama and Hirano-torano-o not blooming yet. The blooming picture of Arashiya here was used for Kuitert Book.(I saw it but forgot to take a picture.) There was a cherry garden near the main shrine, too. There were many Shidare- zakuras, Higan-zakuras, Yama–zakuras and etc. Yuki-yama (I can’t find any reference about this cherry. I’m not sure how to read this, either. It can read “Setsu-zan†It looked like a kind of Yama-zakura. )
