Junihitoe (special kimono) experience around Tokyo

I wrote about junihitoe (special kimono) experience on my another website. Send me a message if you are interested in trying this.

iroha-tabi

Last week, I experienced wearing special kimonos. One is called junihitoe (十二単), multi-layered kimono for court ladies – this is still worn by imperial families on special occasions like their wedding ceremonies. Another one is Kariginu (狩衣), informal clothes worn by nobles when they went hunting in the old time.

Unlike normal kimonos, it is not really easy to have an opportunity to wear these clothes. This time, I had the luck to know a lady who mastered “emon-do (衣紋道)”, special dressing skills and manners to help someone wear this kimono, and she kindly invited me to experience this.

Not only just wearing these kimonos, I could learn how the nobles in the old  time behaved. For example, court ladies in junihitoe could not show their faces, ears and hands in front of people. They used a big fan to cover the face.

Junihitoe

Men could show their faces, but instead they had to cover…

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New website “iroha-tabi” launched!

Dear my friends in the blogosphere,

I launched a new website to introduce my translation and guiding services. If you have interested in these, please check it out! 😀

https://irohatabi.com

 

Sakura of the day: Weeping cherry and Someiyoshino in Kichijo-ji, Hon-komagome

Yesterday, while walking around Komagome in Tokyo, I was thinking of visiting Rikugi-en, a famous garden for its huge weeping cherry. I used to live around there and felt a kind of nostalgic. But it was so crowded, so I changed my mind. Instead, I visited the temple nearby called “Kichijo-ji” which was really calm. It’s fun to find some quiet places like this where only locals visit.

By the way, Komagome is worth visiting for those who love sakura. Someiyoshino, the most representative sakura tree,  originallly comes from this place – In the past, the place around Komagome was called “Somei village” where many gardeners lived.

There is such a cute mailbox in front of North Exit, JR Komagome Station.

Sakura of the day: Weeping Cherry in Gyokuzo-in, Urawa

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to pass by “Gyokuzo-in” a temple of Shingon Buddhism in Urawa, which is famous for a 100 year-old weeping cherry (shidare-zakura).

It was quite a surprize to find this in the middle of the city.

Gyokuzo-in
2-13-22, Nakacho, Urawaku, Saitama-City
Access: About 5 minute walk from West Exit of JR Urawa Station

Map (link to Google map)

 

Sakura Started Blooming in Tokyo! – My Favorite Sakura Viewing Spots

So finally, sakura started blooming in Tokyo yesterday, following the announcement of Fukuoka on March 19. According to the weather forcast, it seems to last till the end of this month.

Here are my favorite sakura viewing spots in Tokyo:

• Sotobori Park (Yotsuya-Ichigaya-Iidabashi)
• Chidoriga-fuchi, especially around the gate of Kitanomaru Park in Kudanshita
• Asukayama Park in Oji
• Rikugien Gardens in Komagome
• Shinjuku Gyoen

Enjoy ohanami 🙂

 

 

2016 Forecasted Sakura Blooming Days as of March 9

Here’s the updated sakura blooming days in Japan according to tenki.jp  as of March 9.

It looks sakura will bloom earlier than the last forecast.

 

Place – Start blooming on / Full bloom on
Tokyo (central) – March 21 / March28
Yokohama – March 23 / April 1
Nagoya – March 22 / April 1
Kyoto – March 25 / April 2
Osaka – March 25/ April 2
Fukuoka – March 22 / April 1
Sendai – April 6 / April 12
Aomori – April 22 / April 27
Sapporo – May 2 / May 6

For those who are worried about missing sakura, read the tips I posted on the previous post 🙂

 

More Sakura… what kinds are blooming in Tokyo now?

I wrote in the yesterday’s post about forecasted sakura blooming days that some kinds of sakura bloom later than that popular someiyoshino, but there are some kinds blooming before someiyoshino as well.

I took these picutures yesterday (March 3) at Shinjuku Gyoen after an appointment. It’s one of the most recommended places to enjoy a variety of sakura in Tokyo – there are about 65 kinds of sakura. Here are some kinds of sakura you can see right now!

Kanzakura

Shuzenji-kanzakura

Bulbul on a shuzenji-kanzakura tree

Kawazu-zakura

And now, ume blossoms are in full bloom so don’t miss it!

2016 Forecasted Sakura Blooming Days as of March 2

Due to the warm weather, the weather forecast says that sakura (cherry blossoms) will bloom a bit earlier this spring.

According to tenki.jp, the forecasted days for the major cities in Japan as of March 2 are as follows.

Place – Start blooming on / Full bloom on
Tokyo (central) – March 23 / March29
Yokohama – March 24 / April 3
Nagoya – March 23 / April 2
Kyoto – March 26 / April 3
Osaka – March 26/ April 3
Fukuoka – March 23 / April 3
Sendai – April 6 / April 12
Aomori – April 22 / April 27
Sapporo – May 2 / May 6

This is just a forecast, so it may change depending on the weather condition. Actually, it is quite hard to predict the exact day and I think this uncertainty is one of the charms of sakura.

For foreign travellers who come to see sakura sometimes might get disapponted if they unfortunately miss it. In that case, there are still some options!

1. Travel north – Sakura start blooming from the south. So if you travel north, they bloom much later. And what is more, there are wonderful sakura viewing places in the north – e.g. Hirosaki, Kitakami and Kakunodate. Again, the forecast is not 100% sure, so when you travel north, keep checking the most updated information on the internet.

2. Look for other kinds of sakura: the most famous and popular sakura is someiyoshino, but there are lots of other kinds like shidare-zakura (weeping cherry) and yae-zakura (double flowering cherry). And some of them bloom after someiyoshino.

3. There are other beautiful Japanese flowers that people have loved from the old time! For instance, Japanese wisteria and azalea… they are truly worth seeing.