Kyoto Light-up, the Evening of March 25,2013. The woman at the tour desk of the hotel told me the illumination of Kodaiji Temple and Kiyomizu-Dera temple had already started. But she wasn't sure about the illumination of Maruyama Park. It is famous for a Giant Shidare-zakura, The cherry appears in a very famous novel Sasame-yuki written more than 60 years ago. I wanted to see it weather illumination was on or off. So I took a bus to Gion. Yasaka Shrine there was lit up. Maruyama Park locates just the back of the shrine. It was very cold evening. Yasaka Shrine was deserted. Stalls of foods were closing then. I bought Yaki-Takenoko (Grilled bamboo shoot ) and Okonomiyaki. I tried Yaki -Takenoko for the first time. It was very tasty. Even if the shrine was lit up, it was still dark. I couldn't see the map and I lost. I couldn't find Maruyama Park. I somehow find the sign of Kodaiji temple. I gave up finding Maruyama Park and went to Kodaiji Temple. The temple and Cherries lit up was wonderful. We could go in the main hall building. There's a Sekitei, stone garden, lit up. This was my first time I'd seen Japanese garden lit up with colors. I prefer simple light up, but still I enjoyed it. Then I walked around the garden. It was mysterious beauty. Then I walked to Kiyomizu-Dera temple along Sannen-zaka slope and Ninen-zaka slope. These are very popular walking paths you can enjoy typical old Kyoto atmosphere. Because of coldness there weren't many people first, but near Kiyomizu-Dera shops were still open and people were browsing. Kiyomizu-Dera is my favorite place in Kyoto where I hope to visit every time I come to Kyoto. But I haven't seen it lit up. It was marvelous!! Just some Shidare-zakuras were blooming. Somei-yoshino under Butai, a stage, hadn't started yet. But I enjoyed my evening. I went back to my hotel by bus and took a Japanese style public bath. It wasn't very big and rather crowded. But in Kyoto there are not so many hotels with a public bath. I enjoyed my night in Kyoto.
Trip to Nikko on April 23, 2013 I went to Nikko to see Shodo-zakura on April 23, 2013. I couldn't see it when I went to Nikko three years ago. It was Monday. The botanical garden there wasn't open. This year I checked the web site and Shodo-zakura came to the blooming list on April 19 and the weather forecast said it would be fine till 3 o'clock that day. But I was so unlucky that day. Before I arrived at Nikko, it became cloudy. It was rather cold. Top of the mountains was covered by snow. There wasn't any snow last time, Tokyo area is having a strange weather. It was unbelievably warm in March. Even in Nikko area Somei-yoshinos became peak blooming around April 7. Then It became quite cool. It snowed on April 20 and 21. I knew it. But I expected spring flowers under the snow topped mountains. After I arrived at Nikko Botanical Garden, I was told cherry flowers and rhododendrons were not in good condition. Snow damaged them a lot. I'm not sure Shodo-zakura there doesn't have lots of flowers every year or snow damaged a lot. But it had rather fragile large white flowers with green leaves. Nikko Botanical Garden has quite wide varieties of wild trees. 16 kinds of wild cherries grow in Japan. They have 14 kinds there. I saw 8 kinds of them including Shodo-zakura. Midori-zakura =========== Kinki-mamezakura ======== Kasumi-O-yamazakura O-yama-zakura ========== Nikko-zakura ============ Edo-higan Unknown(Yama-zakura??) The guide book says they also have some foreign varieties of cherries. But I didn't notice them and I didn't notice any garden charries except Somei-yoshino there. The small guidebook says they have 19 kinds of Maples. But I saw only 2 kinds. The garden is very big and there are rivers and creeks. I saw a bright blue bird twice for the first time in my life. Kanmangafuchi Abyss There was a small shrine almost in front of the botanical garden. There were several kinds of cherries blooming. I saw a unknown beautiful cherry tree in a garden of a private house. Then I went to Rinnoji Temple to see Kongo-zakura which wasn't blooming last time, I went in from a different road. So I saw temple buildings I didn't see last time. Kongo-zakura started blooming. But Main temple building was under repair. It was covered by modern construction site cover. I felt disappointed. So the cherry didn't look nice. Kongo-zakura is a 500-year-old Yama-zakura which has large single white flowers with brown leaves. A part of the construction site was open to the public and I could go up to the observation deck on the seventh floor. I could see the sight usually we can't see. The view in autumn color would be very beautiful. I was very unlucky that day. The train I took had more than 80 minutes delay because of a traffic accident including personal injury or death on the line.
I found the site of Wybe Kuitert Research , the site of the auther of "Japanese Flowering Cherries". You can read some of his writings written in English. I haven't read it yet but "Cherry gardening in ancient Japan" would be interesting.
Yesterday, May 20,2013, I came to Hakodate in Hokkaido. I went to Fort Goryokaku. There are about 1600 cherry trees in and around the fort. This year cherries in Hokkaido are unbelievably slow and in Hakodate Somei-yoshinos were finishing yesterday. Today I went to Matsumae Castle Park, 2 and half hours bus ride from Hakodate. There are about 10,000 cherry trees of 250 kinds planted in the area. Now Somei-yoshino and Naden which Matsumae is famous for were almost finished but double cherries like Itokukuri and so on were very beautiful there. When I get there it was fine and cherries were very beautiful. But unfortunately it became cloudy again and it started drizzling in the evening. I feel I saw about 100 kinds of cherries today. I took more than 700 pictures today.
Mariko, I love seeing photos of the displays in the shop in Matsumae. Is that where you got the idea for your photos in the Takasago posting at http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showpost.php?p=135730&postcount=5? That's amazing, to see almost half of the cherries at Matsumae Castle Park still in bloom so late in May.
Actually I took those pictures on May 5, 2013, when I visited there with my husband. It was during Cherry Blossom Festival of Matsumae and Somei-yoshino and Naden were supposed to be full bloom then, But this year cherries were so slow and only Fuyu-zakura, winter cherry, was blooming at that time. So I decided to visit again. At that time, I saw them for the first time. So I didnt get the idea of Takasago from there. Im not sure why I did those things myself. Only thing I can think of is what I learned about dandelions when I was in the 6th or 7th grade. We dismantled dandelions into small flowers and counted outside small flowers (florets) with petals and inside ones without petals making lows of same type florets. I think counting like that is very common in Japan. This year weather in Japan is very funny. In Matusmae Fugenzo (very similar to Shirofugen) and some late blooming cherries were not looming yet. Kanzans were about 30 % bloom yet. And in Hida in Oita Prefecture, the temperature went over 35 degree today (May 24, 2013).
Mariko, I noticed your interest includes birds, and so here is a link to "MeetAtThePond", which is a very quiet, gentle presentation of some of the very best Japanese bird videos I've ever seen. Your Blue-and-White Flycatcher is there too. http://www.youtube.com/user/MeetAtThePond
Thank you, Grooonx7. The Blue-and-White Flycatcher has so beautiful voice!! There were a lot of birds which had beautiful voices so I couldn't identify the voice of it. But unfortunately the video can't show the beautiful color of it. It has a very beautiful blue body, more beautiful than my picture.
The Sakura-front finnaly got to the goal on May 26. On May 26, the TV news said Sakura-front finally reached the last city, Wakkanai in Hokkaido. This year Somei-yoshino started blooming on March 13 in Fukuoka and Miyazaki, ten days earlier than usual. In Wakkanai, O-yama-zakura, Sargent Cherry, started blooming on May 26. Somei-yoshino can’t grow there so O-yama-zakura becames cherry for Hanami. Sakura-front took 74 days to go through Japan this year. It’s the record longest. My hhusband’s friend posted a picture of weeping cherry at the campus of Hokkaido University in Hakodate on May 24. In Hakodate Somei-yoshinos started blooming on May 13 and were full bloom from May 17 to 23.
Re: Kerrisdale I traveled and saw one young Autumnalis blooming in front of me in a Kyoto temple yesterday. I would like to share these beautiful flowers with you.
Photos of this one taken in Japan and posted on this thread show broader petals and probably more of them than on British plants. This could be a climate thing as Prunus mume 'Matsubara Red' appears to do the same thing, with stock grown in California even blooming at first with larger, broader-petaled flowers and then producing dinky sparse ones apparently forever after in this area. The way this thread is putting the most recent posts on top is a little odd as you then have to read backwards through it.
That was my decision on all these Neighbourhood threads. I think the default per page is 25 posts - people checking out the recent postings would have to go to the fifth page on this one and way more pages on some of them. It still makes more sense to me to order them so that you see the current stuff first, which is generally what's blooming right now. When you come in via Today's Posts, it doesn't matter, but this forum's purpose is to show what's happening now in the neighbourhood. It's called a "blog", and blogs usually have the current postings at the top.
Yeah, I remember you talking about the ordering before. I don't like that you have to scroll down to see what the person farther up is talking about, then go back to where you were and finish reading.
Re: Cherries in Japan - 360 degree imagery videos This isn't timely, and it's more about a 360 degree imagery photographic technique than the actual cherries, but these videos do give a feel for hanami in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park. The second says it was taken in April 2007; I would guess that the other was taken at the same time, in Tokyo's Shinjuku Park. Cherry Blossom Viewing - a metapanorama Cherry Tree - a metapanorama
Somei-yoshino bloomed and finished in Tokyo I was too busy to post any early blooming cherries. My job finished on March 31. But I was still busy for visiting and taking care of my parents. Also the problem is at my parents’ I can’t connect to the internet even if I have a wifi. Any way I will post as much as I can. Tokyo had a record cold winter but it suddenly warmed up after March 20 and Somei-yoshino started to bloom on March 25. It became full bloom on March 30. It stayed in good condition at least until April 6. March 26 Junsai Pond Park March 29 Gyotoku--------------------------Junsai Pond Park---------------------------------------- April 1 Hakusan--------------------------Koishikawa botanic Garden----------------------------- Edogawabashi ------------------- Harimazaka Road--------------------------------------- April 2 Higashi Gyoen of the Imperial Palace Junsai Pond Park April 5 Sotobori Park-------------------- Shinjuku Gyoen-----------------------------------------
Joseph’s cherry in Kyoto Thank you for posting cherry pictures in Kyoto, Joseph. I'm sorry I didn't notice your posting. Thank you, Ron, for writing the reply. As you say, these flowers have a bit wider petals than usual Autumnalis. I think it is the same cherry as the 2 cherry trees locate in Junsai Pond Park. Soon after I came back to Japan, I posted them as white Autumnalis. But now I don't think so. Autumnalis has very long pistils You can see them in the pictures Joseph posted to the Kerrisdale thread on March 7th, 2010. Then what are they? Now I think they are Kobuku-zakura or a hybrid of Kobuku-zakura. I took pictures of the one at Junsai Pond Park on April 2, 2014. I enlarged one picture and found it looked like having 2 pistils in one flower. Kobuku-zakura is known to have 1 to 4 pistils in 1 flower and sometimes have 2 or 3 cherries from 1 flower. “Kobuku” means happiness of having many children.Autumn and winter flowers of Kobuku-zakura are almost white and in spring it blooms with leaves. “The Handbook of Flowering Cherries in Japan” shows Autumnalis on Page 78-79 and Kobuku-zakura on page 80-81. It says Autumnalis has less than 20 petals and Kobuku-zakura has more. In Kobuku-zakura inside petals are rolling up toward the inside. It also shows sepals of wide pentagon shape with serration. I copied the explanation about Kobuku-zakura from the newly published English booklet named “Flowering Cherries in Shinjuku Gyoen National Park”. ‘Kobuku-zakura’ 子福桜 Cerasus ‘Kobuku-zakura’ ‘Kobuku-zakura’ is a cultivar considered a hybrid between Chinese Sweet Cherry (C. pseudocerasus) and ‘Kohigan’ (C.×subhirtella). It has small double flowers with white petals, and continues blooming from autumn to next spring intermittently, so sometimes it has no flowers. It is a cultivar with double flower like ‘Autumnalis’, buy can be easily distinguished by funnel-shaped calyx pipe. Its distinguishing character is its 1-5pistils, and cultivar name means many children, derives from how it make several fruits on one pedicel. I post spring flowers of Kobuku-zakura in Shinjuku Gyoen Park and Autumnalis in Higashi Gyoen of the Imperial Palace. Spring flowers of Kobuku-zakura in Shinjuku Gyoen Park Spring flowers of Autumnalis in Higashi Gyoen of the Imperial Palace
It’s April 28, 2014 today. Even Kanzan and Fugenzo(Japanese version of Shiro-fugen) are finishing now. Bur I’m still writing about Somei-yoshinos. Somei-yoshinos in Yagiri, Nakakokubun & Konodai This year I visited my parents’ very often so I saw cherries in Nakakokubun (it is an area name in Ichikawa City) and Yagiri (an area name in Matsudo city which locates next to Ichikawa). Both are residential suburbs of Tokyo. Houses are not big so cherries are planted mostly in the parks and schools. Junsai Pond Park locates between Nakakokubun and Yagiri. Usually I just walk between my parents' and Yagiri station or the nearest bus stop across Junsai Pond Park. But this year I had a chance to rode a bike and go around where I grew up in cherry season after a long time. ★Cherries in Yagiri on April 4,2014 Yagiri Shrine and the small hill next to it Yagiri Kindergarten where I graduated The Waterworks Tower A Small park in Yagiri ★Cherries in Nakakokubun & Konodai On April 5,2014, I walked to the next bus stop in Konodai through Junsai Pond Park. The Suburb Ground of a high school in Tokyo---------------------Nakakokubun Junsai Pond Park Somei-yoshinos in Konodai
Shinjuku Gyoen Park on April 5, 2014 On April 5, I went to Shinjuku Gyoen Park. Somei-yoshino was still in peak bloom. Shinjuku Gyoen was the more crowded than ever as I visited. Cherries were very beautiful. But unfortunately the lawn was still brown like winter. I bought a bento box on my way and ate at a rest house enjoying beauty of the cherries. Maple had started shooting out new leaves when somei-yoshino became full bloom.
Cherries in Shinjuku Gyoen Park on April 5,2014 Koshioyama As far as I know, there are only 2 koshioyama trees in Shinjuku Gyoen. It has single white flowers of middle size. Flowers open very flat with brown young leaves before Ichiyo blooms. It has a bit unique tree shape. Shirayuki Shirayuki means ‘white snow’ in Japanese. It has single white flowers with large-sized petals. Green leaves come out just after flowers. So it looks like Oshima-zakura from far sometime but it has hair and as far as I see it has umbellate flower arrangement with peduncle. Choshu-hi-zakura Gotenba-zakura It has single to semi-double light pink flowers with brownish green leaves. Gotenba-zakura bears a lot of flowers. It is said to be a hybrid of Mame-zakura and something. It is getting very popular because it is used for bonsai and hedges. Oshima-zakura Yama-zakura Yae-beni-shidare Somei-yoshino America (Akebono) Akebono is called ‘America’ because there is a cherry named ‘Yae-no-akebono’ (double flowered Akebono) in Japan. Ichiyo There are about 150 Ichiyo in Shinjuku Gyoen Patk. It had just started to bloom then.
Shirofugen tree in bloom at Hama-rikyu Gardens, Tokyo, April 13, 2014. The last photo shows the Japanese sign using the alternative name Fugenzo, Fugen elephant.
These two trees look like Takasago, with their globular cluster of flowers and 5+ sepals, but the Japanese signage (last photo) does not correspond to the Japanese name for Takasago in our 2014 Guide. I can't quite pin down that first kanji (Chinese) character so maybe Mariko can have a look. In bloom at Hama-rikyu Gardens, Tokyo, April 13, 2014.
Hi, Anne. I didn’t know you came to Japan!! Did you have a wonderful time? The sign board on the last picture of #122 can read ‘Kanzan’. It uses abbreviated letter of Kanâ€関â€. I think these are not Takasago. Takasago has less petals and blooms before Ichiyo. But I’m not sure they are Kanzan. They don’t look like Kanzan. If you enlarge the first picture, you can see greenish leaves with flowers. Kanzan has reddish brown leaves with flowers. But you can see brown leaves with flowers on the third picture So I can’t identify the trees by the picture. But I have been to Hama Rikyu Garden when double cherries bloomed. I think there are Kanzans there. Also there were some beautiful double pink cherry blooming with green leaves. I think they are Edo kind cherry which look like Yokihi or a bit darker Itokukuri in Vancouver. Anyway in Tokyo you can’t see Takasago so much. There is a cherry tree named Takasago in Jindai Botanical Garden. But I went there too late to take pictures for identification. But it looked a bit different from Takasago in Vancouver.
