As previously mentioned February and early March in Tokyo is the Japanese Plum Blossom season. We decided to try our first recommendation from A Flower Lover’s Guide to Tokyo by Sumiko Enbutsu, a book I’ll review in more detail in a future entry. So far, I have to say, I like this book.

We went on Walk #37, Keio Mogusa-en Garden. We arrived soon after opening on a sunny, warm, February morning. The train station was decked out in fake plum blossoms to advertise the ume matsuri (梅祭り) that happens from early February until mid-March. During this time period, Mogusaen is open every day, which is good since we were there on the day it is normally closed. The crowds weren’t bad, but things looked to be getting more crowded by the time we left.

Pretty much everyone had a camera. Mine was the smallest and lightest by far. Giant, crazy-expensive cameras are the norm at places like this in Japan. Retired couples (some in their 80s) seemed to be competing to see who could take the better picture with their enormous lenses and tripods both aimed at the same flower.

The ume tree above (寿昌梅) was planted in the early part of the 18th Century by a Buddhist nun called Jushoin (寿昌院). Little, bonsai (盆栽) ume trees surround the bamboo fence around it. Very cute.

Below you can see the thatched roof of the Shorenan (松連庵) farmhouse from the hill behind it. Things actually looked much better in person. It was such a bright day that the sun washed out my photos from this angle. I should have taken then with a quicker shutter speed. Even so, the sky wasn’t blue from this vantage point, even though it wasn’t cloudy. At a different time of day, with the sun not bleaching everything, this same photo may be spectacular.

This last picture may seem like your standard, point-your-camera-straight-up tree photo, but it isn’t. These trees were growing out of the mountain side horizontally.

I’ll have more from Keio Mogusaen, and our subsequent hike (on the same day) and adventures around the City of Hino (日野市), in a future entry.

Posted on March 6th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: book review, flower lovers guide to tokyo, guidebooks, hiking, thatch roof, ume. Comments: 1

At this junction, you can take about eight different paths. One takes you to the top of Mt. Otsuka. The book we were following didn’t say anything about what you’d see there so we didn’t go to the top of Mt. Otsuka (which turned out to be a really good thing as it would have put us back another hour and likely left us stranded in the dark later in the day). Another route looked shorter and said (in Japanese) that it took you to the picnic area from which you can see Mt. Fuji. However, we could pretty much see the top, and it was surrounded in tall trees. So I don’t think you could really see Mt. Fuji from there unless you climbed a tree. Instead, we followed the above sign towards Mitake Jinja (御嶽神社), which is the Shinto shrine on top of the mountain. For some unknown reason the kanji is different (御岳山 for Mt. Mitake vs. 御嶽神社). Anyone know why?

As we neared the shrine area the number of people increased dramatically. Houses, shops, etc. also sprung up as we neared this remote location. The building pictured above had the strangest roof I have ever seen. It was all one building but appeared to have at least three or four completely different roofs.

Posted on December 7th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: hiking, japanese maple, mt. mitake, thatch roof, 紅葉. Comments: 3

Before actually getting on the trail, the road from Kori Station (古里駅) to the dirt path is very scenic.

There are thatched-roof houses, small farms, and colors galore.

After turning to the right, you will begin to climb. The views don’t last long as after a few hundred steps you will be in the trees for at least a couple of hours.

If you can’t read kanji, and are doing this hike without a Japanese person with you, you’ll want a list of what a few dozen kanji mean. The trails are well marked for the most part, but you can easily get lost if you take a wrong turn. The signs don’t have any romaji on them. There are many junctions, some going off in more than a half dozen different directions.

Posted on November 24th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, hiking, japan pictures, japanese maple, mt. mitake, signs, thatch roof. Comments: None

In the Arashiyama area of Kyoto we rented bikes and road mostly north into the Sagano area. The last line of homes before running into the mountains (just east of Adashino-Nenbutsu-ji (化野念仏寺)) consisted of some fine ones with a thatch roof. Farming was still going on in the surrounding neighborhood. That some properties also included cherry trees in full bloom put a smile on my face.

Posted on February 4th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: arashiyama, buildings, cherry blossoms, japan pictures, kyoto, sagano, sakura, thatch roof. Comments: 1