Kyoto [Part III - Sakura 桜]

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, when we ventured down to Kyoto, so there was lots to see.

Night-time sakura...

Sakura along the Kamogawa River

Sakura in the Imperial Palace, and new mini maple leaves opening
I climbed up in to the branches for the photo, I'm sure it made the photo 100% better

Rikugien Garden 六義園

Last Sunday we made use of the glorious sunny weather to look around our ward a bit more... with the aid of the tour guide booklet that Greg found (previously mentioned HERE) and we headed off to a garden which he had been interested in seeing... Rikugien [六義園] - 6 poem gardens; A National Historical Site depicting scenes from famous poems. It cost a mere 300 yen to get in (and there are discounts if you are a junior high student, OAP or in a group)

It was quite busy, with lots of people enjoying the lovely views on a sunny day, even if the sakura [桜] trees weren't yet in full bloom...we even saw a camera crew filming a sakura tree which had bloomed a little earlier than its neighbours.

The main star of the hanami [花見] was a weeping sakura, with banners proclaiming the night-time veiwing festivities that would take place when it will be in full bloom.

It's quite a big garden and we took a leisurely walk around, stopping mainly to look at the feeding frenzy at the edge of the pond.

The koi carp have definitely made a connection between people standing at the edge of the water and a high probability of feeding. They always amass by bridges and where they can see people standing by the water side. We watched massive koi push ducks and a poor little turtle out of the way to fight for the food being thrown in. The koi often ended up mouthing other koi heading for the same bit of food when they missed the target. The little black ducks managed to dash in some times and grab bread before the koi managed to attack, but the poor little turtle was always bullied out of the way by the swarm of koi. At one point he was pushed completely out of sight, and only managed to surface after a long submergence quite away from the melee.

Some photos for your delectation.....

Sakura time in Bunkyo ku

Sakura [桜] is currently in full bloom in Tokyo, a good week ahead of the JMA's predictions. So this weekend was jam-packed with people trying to enjoy the cherry blossom and the sunny weather. A street just a few blocks away from our apartment, is dedicated to hanami [花見] - cherry blossom viewing, the very wide central reservation, which is a kind of long narrow walkway with a little manmade stream running down it, is flanked by Sakura trees on both sides of the road.

The road was even closed for the day, so that people could happily mingle about
under the blossom laden branches...

Children were splashing in the little stream, which is usually turned off, under the watchful eye of parents picnicing under the shade of the blossom trees. People had brought plastic sheeting to sit on, and one family had even set up a picnic table and chairs, busy having a proper lunch. Others had settled with sitting on the floor, upturning boxes for tables and bringing portable gas stoves for cooking. Big groups of youger people sat around playing drinking games further up the hill. There was also a live brass band...and the first thing that we heard them play was the theme tune for the Death Star....

About halfway up the road, we came across a temporary petting zoo, where various farm animals were penned and being harrased by some very eager children...

Bunnies trying to hide from the petting frenzy and larger farm animals in a seperate pen next door.

For some reason there was also a lone ferret and two petrified looking chipmunk like creatures in cages...the chipmonks were obviously too cute not to photograph, and we were treated to the lovely sight of four young girls trying to digitally capture the chipmunks on their individual mobile phones...

some sumo wrestlers taking a picnic?

How to reserve a place under the sakura...

Some people had even gone to the lengths of 'reserving' their place for when they would turn up later that day. Presumably, with the foresight to come the night before to ensure that they would get the place they wanted. Better yet, the Japanese being the great people that they are, actually respect the notices that people put up. I some how doubt that this kind of courtesy will catch on in the UK...

Some people enjoying the sakura...

On our way closer to the metro station, to finally get some lunch, we came across some people dressed up to promote the festivities that were going to happen on Sunday. The sax player was trailing behind the two ladies in kimonos playing out a nice jolly tune, while the ladies walked ahead; one playing percussion and the other handing out leaflets...