Boating snapshots at Sagi-ike Pond

Last Sunday, I strolled aroud Sagi-ike Pond to view the blooms of my favorite 辛夷 Kobushi, or Kobus Magnolia trees. 

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Kobus magnolia



Look at these overflowing florescence!

People stopped to admire the blooming trees one after another, looking up at from the boat or from the path along the pond.

It was such a sunny, warm weekend with a little breeze that some families, friends, or lovers were enjoying boating on the pond.

 Row, row row your boat

Gently down the stream

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

Life is but a dream

On the pond, you actually have to move water backward to move your boat forward.  Remember?   You're not looking where you are going when you have oars, so you turn around to see and feel relaxed to find immersed by the splendor of nature.   I think that is all about boating on Sagi-ike Pond.

from the path by the pond

from the upper ground



Cherry blossoms looked coming soon. 
The blooms of them indicate the full arrival of spring.

Please view Kobushi flowers catch the spring wind, too.

Vernal Equinox Day Joy

Today, Vernal Equinox Day, is a national holiday in Japan.  As is said in Japanese saying “Neither heat or cold lasts beyond the Equinox.”, the current weather tells us spring with its full energy is just around the corner.  The start of blooming of Somei-yoshino variety of Sakura (cherry tree) was record early in Tokyo and Kyushu.  I see many Tokyo people enjoying parties under the flowers in full bloom on TV as I write this, while I saw only early blooming varieties here in Nara.

Cerasus serrulata ‘Tairyo-zakura’
大漁桜 (タイリョウザクラ)

鵯 (ヒヨドリ)/Brown-eared bulbul

Japanese have Equinoctical Week which includes three days before and after the Equinox Day. During the week, we customarily visit the graves of the departed loved ones and celebrate life and nature.  Knowing today’s weather of on-and-off raining, my husband and I visited our ancestors' grave in the early morning and as usual we stopped by Umami Hills Park in its vicinity on our way back. 

These are the joys I found.

A pond was fringed by yellow 山茱萸/Cornus officinalis and red 木瓜/Japanese quinces.

日向水木 (ヒョウガミズキ)/Corylopsis pauciflora

I was glad to learn the name of this cherry tree when my husband turned my attention to the name plate of the tree.



Cerasus ‘Yoko’
陽光/ヨウコウ

It is "Yoko"!

It is a crossbreed variety of 天城吉野/Amagi-yoshino

and 寒緋桜/Cerasus campanulata (Maxim.) Masam.& S.Suzuki.

雪柳 (snow-willow), or Thunberg’s meadowsweet

花桃/Prunnus persica

 Prunnus persica were on the verge of blooming.

Our finish at the park was pancake sandwiches for brunch.

Right after we left the park, it started raining.

I closed "Comments" this time.  Thanks for reading.

Wish you a joyful Vernal Equinox Day!



Ume blossoms viewing at Osaka Castle Park

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter."

                                                      - Rachel Carson -

(Click on the photo to enlarge.)

Ume blossoms season has come!  梅 Ume, or Japanese apricot, is one of the earliest fragrant bloomers to harbinger spring.  They start flowering when air is still cold one by one.  A few of modest but elegant flowers braving the cold symbolize strength, resilience, perseverance, and purity. 

bursting blooms on March 6th

While I was involved in grand parenting since last early December, season has changed.  When the winter chill suddenly turned to early spring warmth last week, my granddaughter returned to her parents on her mother’s leaving hospital.  She's gone with winter!  She will be an elder sister in March or early April.  As for myself, while I’m so relieved and happy for my son's family, I feel listless with a void in my heart.  To such a person, nature has a way, so I went to view Ume blossoms which burst into bloom because of April-like warmth of the last week.

The place is Ume Grove of Osaka Castle Park.  It is an urban oasis.

Walking through the grove in the morning, I was very relaxed. Ume blossoms of about 100 varieties in various colors and greeting chirps of lovely birds would have brought theraputic effects on my body and mind. 

If you plan to go, I highly recommend to start your day early.  At 11:00 a.m. on weekday when I left the park, the ume grove was already bustling with people.

pink

pale pink

white

deep pink



red



weeping type

White-eye



Trunks are as attractive as flowers. 

This gnarled trunk look swimming freely in the air.

Osaka Castle was built during 1583-1597 by order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  The current main tower is a restoration work completed in 1997 which maintains its Edo-era splendor. The castle is made of concrete different from original wooden structure and elevator is installed so that the interior can work as a modern and functioning museum.



On the way to the nearest station, JR Kansai Loop Line, Osaka-jo Koen

Today is the second anniversary of 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami.  As I read and hear the still ongoing pains and struggles of the victims, my heart aches and I think how unfair the life is. No matter what happens, I think I'll keep remembering the blooms of ume after the harsh winter.     

Japan Earthquake, 2 years later: Before and After (The Atlantic)





押絵, or collage painting, of Ume blossoms by the late aunt of my husband

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北野 Kitano, the town that swings with jazz and exotic flavor

Port of Kobe is the largest in Japan next to Yokohama.  It's importance as a port goes back to the Nara period (710-794) when it was known as Hyogo. In 15th and 16th century, it prospered in the tally trade (勘合貿易) with China (宋、明.) 

Since Kobe Port was opened to international trade according to Ansei Commercial Treaties of 1858, Kobe has been leading the way towards international exchange, and many foreigners came to live in Kobe. Older than 100-year-old Western-style residences in which wealthy foreign traders and diplomats used to live are located in Kitano-cho at the foot of Rokko Mountains.

"Uroko no Ie" (Scale House) is named after its distinctive feature, the overlapping shingled siding, which look like scales, "uroko" in Japanese. This mansion was originally built as a luxurious rental residence for foreigners and  Wenceslau Jose de Sousa de Moraes (1854-1929) became the first resident of this mansion as a Portuguese consul at Kobe in 1899.

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Kobe City holds Japan's oldest golf course at Mt. Rokko. 
An Englishman, Arthur H. Gloom, opened it in 1903. 

Another popular residence is Weathercock House. This house was constructed as the house of a German trader in the early 1900s, and its distinctive weather-vane has been a symbol of Kitano-cho. 

At the square next to Weathercock House, musicians are playing jazz. 



Kobe is the birthplace of Japanese Jazz as the first Japanese jazz band was formed in Kobe in 1923.   After the WWII, many great jazz musicians, like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, George Louis, to name a few, came to tour throughout Japan.  Kobe Jazz Street is held  annually in October. It is one of the biggest traditional and mainstream jazz festivals in Japan.  I’ve heard there is no such concentration of jazz clubs like Kitano except the 52nd Street of New York. (Incidentally my history of Billy Joel fan started with my favorite album “52nd Street”. )



Long stairs lead you to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine.  It is one of several hundred shrines across Japan that are dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar and politician who was unfairly exiled by his political rivals.  A number of disasters were attributed to Michizane’s vengeful spirit after his death in exile, and these shrines were built to appease his spirit. Michizane is associated with Tenjin, Shinto god of education. When Taira-no-Kiyomori moved the capital to Fukuhara Kobe from Kyoto in 1180, he invited Kitano Tenjin of Kyoto as the patron god of Fukuhara.  Villagers living near the shrine named their village after it, and deeply worshiped their god, Tenjin.  It was the beginning of the district name Kitano.



All the Temmangu shrines are noted for Ume, or Japanese apricot trees, which were planted in the precinct in association with Michinaga's famous tanka poem:

東風吹かば匂い起こせよ梅の花主なしとて春な忘れそ

Whenever the east wind blows,my dear ume blossoms remember spring,even if your master won't be here.

("East wind" blows from the Pacific to Japanese island, which signifies the arrival of spring.)

Most of the buds of the Ume trees were still tight on February 23rd.

Ume garden of Kitano Tenmangu overlooks the city of Kobe.

- A glimpse into a few of other mansions -

 Moegi House built in 1903

Kitano Foreigners Association

(Members only social club)

members' bar

kitchen with wood burning hearth

England House

A bar is open for business on Sundays and holidays from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Guess whose room.

Former Chinese Consulate

Old-fashioned buses of City Group take you to Kitano from downtown Kobe.



Old history, foreign cultures, tourists, and local people swing in good vibration at Kitano.



初めての異人館散策:　北野の巡りかた

神戸の異人館めぐり

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