Sakura countdown
In just one more month, my favorite part of Tokyo (Yanaka) will look like this. I took today’s photo of some of Tokyo’s finest cherry blossoms at Tennoji (天王寺) on April 8, 2010.
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Posts tagged sakura
Okuma Teien (大隈庭園)
This Japanese garden next to Waseda University was lovely in the rain. This photo doesn’t quite capture everything. I took it during the first week of April, at the height of the cherry blossoms, but you only see a bit of them in the upper left corner. If you look closely you can see carp in the koi pond.
Odawara Cherry Blossom Road
西海子小路 in 小田原市
Wrong season, I know, but my random desktop image generator doesn’t care about picking the correct season. When this photo came up I was curious as I didn’t remember taking it. Why? Because I didn’t. My wife took this on her walk with TIS friends in Odawara during the cherry blossom season. Luckily she caught the name of the street in the lower left portion of the picture. This is 西海子小路 (さいかちこうじ or saikachikoji), near Odawara Station and Odawara Castle. This part of Odawara is one of the more famous places in Japan to view sakura.
Odawara Castle
Odawara Castle wall during cherry blossom season
I have been through the Odawara Station many times, but I have never made it to the castle itself. Today’s photo was taken by my better half when she met up with some other TIS moms for an outing while the sakura was blossoming (first week of April).
More Sakura Haiku
夜明け前桜の下はばかばかり
Here is another of the sakura haiku along the Kanda River in Tokyo. This one reads yoakemae, sakuranoshitawa, baka bakari and means, “Before the dawn, beneath the cherry blossoms, nothing but idiots.” There are a couple of funny things about this one.
Without experiencing a nighttime hanami (flower viewing party) it is difficult to grasp just how crazy these parties can become. Nearly everyone is beyond intoxicated. Hence the “idiots” reference. The other thing about this haiku is the play on words. “Baka” means “idiot” and “bakari” means “only” or “nothing but”. Saying them back to back has a ring of “super idiot” since it starts out “bakabaka”. “Bakabakashii” is actually the adjective form of “baka”.
Anyway, seeing this sign brought a smile to my face. I’m guessing the author (あゆぞう which may have a meaning of its own that I’m not aware of) lives nearby and has to put up with the nightly noise that goes on for more than a week during cherry blossom viewing season.
Japanese Castle Moat?
At first glance, this scene may look like a moat surrounding a Japanese castle with the cherry blossoms in bloom. Actually, this is the Kanda River with one of Chinzanso’s restaurants in the background (Mokushundo–木春堂–to be exact). While I walked the grounds many times, I never did eat at one of the restaurants on the property. The environment was top notch, no doubt, but I just couldn’t hand over several times more cash at these establishments than what similar meals would cost a short walk away.