Sakura

Hi

Everywhere you go the cherry is in flower. The weather's been mixed. A couple of warm days but for the most part on the chilly side. 

My son was visiting and was intrigued by the idea of making a special trip to see a tree. He enjoyed the festival atmosphere - stalls selling everything from cherry pink cakes to cherry tree postage stamps to cherry tree saplings. And after visiting a few of the famous trees he got the hang of it: 'You could spend a whole day going round these trees'. Then we just enjoyed driving around the countryside, fluffy pink with cherry blossom.

Currently there seems to be a movement to plant cherry trees all over the Tohoku area. They're a symbol of hope and recovery.

Here are a few pictures I took this last week. 

Anne

The Waterfall Cherry (takizakura) in Miharu exactly a week ago.
 Flowers open at the top of the tree but the lower branches in bud and deeper pink.
A sign proclaimed that it was 50% in flower. Very scientific!

The same tree a week later. In full flower

Night cherry blossom in Kaiseizan Park, Koriyama.
Floodlit and stunning against the black sky.

Jizo-zakura in Miharu.
 You line up to say a prayer in the little  shrine at the foot of the tree.

My favourite tree. Fudo-zakura in Miharu.

And this is the 'fudo',  Buddhist deity Acala, inside the shrine.

Beautiful tree over 350 years old.

You might also like to see the light show on Aizu castle which took place on the 2nd anniversary, in terrible weather. It's a new technology: 3D projection mapping. Have you seen one of these shows? They're astonishing.
Projection Mapping Tsurugajo