円山公園での桜
As I was digging through some photos I took in Kyoto I came upon this rather lovely one and determined to find out what the lantern meant. かがり火 is simple enough. Kagaribi means bonfire. 祇園 is Gion (the famous Gion known for teahouses and geisha). No surprises there as I took this picture in 円山 (maruyama) park which is either in or right next to Gion. So I figured this must be in reference to some bonfire festival that would shortly be taking place in the park. Right?
Wrong. A quick google search turned up this site, meaning that this decorative lantern is nothing more than an advertisement for a nearby restaurant which specializes in its tofu dishes.
Oh well. It’s more attractive than the billboards plastered along the sides of U.S. highways.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:54 am
かがり火 is a branch of Junsei 順正, right? I haven’t known that.
A nightclub (at 木屋町) where I had an after-school job, held a cherry blossom viewing party at 円山公園 in April every year.
円山公園 is famous for these cherry blossoms, especially shidare-zakura しだれ桜.
http://www.news.janjan.jp/photo-msg/0804/0804054278/1.php
The sidare-zakura at the best location in the park has been grown by a landscape gardener on the below link.
http://www.uetoh.co.jp/
I think what would be really great is if my garden can be landscaped by him.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:16 am
Beautiful picture! I’m glad I don’t know kanji well enough to have understood the ad.