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小金井公園ビジターセンター
Today’s photo comes from a walk I did in Tokyo over six years ago. If I ever make it back to this place I want to visit the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum. In addition to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum they have now added an indoor museum (江戸東京博物館).
Kaiganji (海岸寺)
To find a place like this, and dwell there for an hour or so without seeing another soul, not far from the center of Tokyo, with 13+ million people within an hour of your location, is utter bliss.
I didn’t actually go into Sankoin, and I’m not even 100% positive this is a photo of it, but I walked past this neat looking building from the side and took this photo while walking around Koganei in west Tokyo a couple years ago. Sankoin is a Buddhist nunnery (whatever that is) where you can eat Kyoto-style Japanese food.
Not too far from the Musashi Koganei Station (武蔵小金井駅) near Kodaira City (小平市) on the western side of Tokyo you can find the Buddhist Temple known as Kaiganji (海岸寺). There you will see these water lilies. I suppose they could be lotus, but I think lotus are above, rather than on, the water.
I’m a sucker for thatched roofs. While on water walk #8 I stumbled across this deserted temple. This view from under the old thatched-roof gate was breathtaking. I wandered the grounds for a long while without encountering another soul. Clearly the place was well maintained though. The loving care that went into this pine tree alone was remarkable. There was a lotus pond (photos coming someday). I lingered so long at Kaiganji that by the time I got to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in nearby Koganei Park I was starving. I opted to eat instead of go to the museum, something I now regret. Someday I will have to go back to make up for this blunder!
While walking through Koganei Park (小金井公園) on Walk #8, I happened upon hundreds of small children and their moms having a massive picnic. Mom bikes went on forever under the wisteria (fuji or 藤) that was a bit past its prime.
I could find no evidence of Shoshika (Japan’s society with few kids) in this scene. Japan’s fertility rate is actually quite a bit lower than China’s, with its supposed one child per female rule. I saw a lot of people in China with more than one child. It turns out that China’s one-child policy isn’t very effective as it is based on where you live. Have one child and live in a big city but get pregnant? No problem. Just move out of the city for a year.
Focus, focus…
Here we go. It was a warm and sunny day so many of the iris (hanashobu or ハナショウブ or 花菖蒲) looked a little wilted, but this one wasn’t too bad.
The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum (江戸東京たてもの園) is in this same park.