Early Sakura & Hanami Vol. I

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April 2nd 2006

Published: April 2nd 2006

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ZachInJapan

Kamo-Gawa Sakura

Kamo-gawa is a famous river in Kyoto known for a couples spot, but on this day was a Sakura Festival was being held.

I can not believe it’s already April and I am now down to less than two complete months left in Japan. Midterms and spring break have come and gone as has most of the cold weather. Yesterday was a very beautiful day, slightly cloudy and windy, but better than the snow that we’ve had recently. This year’s Sakura (Cherry blossoms) are a little bit past the budding stage, but have not yet reached their full potential of beauty that I’m guessing will be happening one week from this time.

Hanami, flower viewing, is the celebration of these Sakura, the national flower of Japan. To honor its beauty, and short life span, the Japanese celebrate its arrival with a yearly festival. Friends will gather under the trees to enjoy sake (rice wine), sing songs, and celebrate the coming of spring. I will actually be writing a full anthropological report on this topic, I suppose…, in the near future you if this interest you please check back for more updates.

Ok, so yesterday Levi and I woke up a little late because that’s just our weekend style. We talked the day before about going to Kyoto if the weather was at

Yasaka Shrine

Omikuji (fortunes) are tied up in front of one of the entrance gates.

least half decent, and to our surprise for the first time in a while the weather was reasonably nice. We got ready, drove our bikes to the station and made our way to Shi-jo. This is situated next to some well-known spots in Kyoto such as Minamiza theatre, where you can see Kabuki, Kamo-gawa, the famous dating spot, and Gion, where you may spot some Maiko-sans. A little bit beyond all of these spots is a shrine named Yasuka shrine, where a park named Maruyama-Koen can be found. This spot is in at least the top 3 finest spots in Kyoto to partake in Hanami. One of the main attractions is a 300 year old weeping willow cherry tree. Yesterday this tree was just starting to come into bloom so it was rather bare, but I can see that with some more time it will be a great sight to see.

Levi and I ate some Matsuri(festival) food such as Takoyaki(octopus balls), karaage(fried chicken), Sweet potato sticks, and drank typical Hanami beverages. Most of the people seemed pretty intoxicated and un-Japanese, which was rather exciting. This, however, of course means that at the sight of Levi and I almost

Gate guardian

Yasaka Shrine

anybody will try to speak any and all English that they have knowledge of. This is usually fairly fascinating. We ended up meeting a guy who earlier in the day attended his best friend’s wedding, but at the time we met him he was just absolutely drunk equipped puffy eyes. Haha

By the time our first Hanami experience and chatting had come to a close it was already starting to become evening. I asked Levi if he would like to go back to Fushimi-Inari, a famous Torii(gate) Shinto shrine to hike the mountain in the dark and see how creepy it would be. After a little contemplating we decided to hop back on the trains and go.

I’m not sure how well the photos will be able to represent this experience, but we were able to have a good bit of fun and at a few points actually be a little frightened. Creepy bamboo paths with crazy fox gods staring you down and shiny balls located on top of people’s houses that just happen to live in the mountain that is property to a Shinto shrine. Yeah, I’m looking forward to going back again soon.

Additional photos below

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