★Cherry walk on March 22, 2020, from Yotsuya Station to Tokyo Midtown 3/3 Tokyo Midtown Then we headed to Tokyo Midtown. I was so surprised that there were so many people there. Many families and friends opened picnic seats on the lawn area. Somei-yoshinos were blooming beautifully there. Large famous Hanami parks like Ueno Park and Shinjuku-gyoen park prohibited people to open picnic seats this year. So more people gathered mid-sized Hanami area like here and Koishikawa BG. I was so thirsty and wanted to drink something at a table looking cherries. There were many restaurants. But ones which has window seats were formal restaurants and they were closed between lunch and dinner. We found a free table and had sone take-out drinks. I thought it’s a very good place with a lot of free tables and seats.
★Asukayama Park on March 25, 2020 It was a beautiful day and Somei-yoshinos were full bloom. I rode my bike to Asukayama Park. It’s a historically famous park from Edo period. The 8th Shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa ordered to plant cherries and opened the park to Edo Citizens in 1720. The custom of Hanami started then. You can see Hanami in Edo period in Ukiyoes.(one more link) Now it has historical museums and a playground for children. I had been there a few times but I didn’t have good impression before. But it was very beautiful with Somei-yoshinos full bloom. Many people were enjoying Hanami there. I found some double cherry trees. They were still not starting blooming. I hoped to visit there again when they are full bloom.
★COVID-19 and STAY HOME Weeks in Tokyo It’s April 28, 2020 today. One month has passed since we enjoyed full bloom of Somei-yoshinos. Now Double cherries like Kanzan and Fugenzo, called Shiro-fugen in Vancouver finished. Fugenzos finished and white Japanese Azaleas by Shakujii River on April 26,2020 Now it’s a best season of the year in Tokyo and around. But we have to stay home for weeks. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 all over the world went over 3 million and total deaths went over 200 thousand now. In Japan total confirmed were 13888 and total deaths were 413 tonight. It’s not so much to compere to the USA but Medical situation in Tokyo is already in crises. In the beginning of March, we were very cautious but when cherries bloomed, we had long weekend, from March 20 to 22, in good weather and nice days after. As you can see in the pictures, we enjoyed Hanami a little smaller scale but still people got together. Before March 20, daily confirmed were less than ten in Tokyo. But it went over 40 on March 24 and the governor of Tokyo asked self-restraint on the evening of March 25. But patients continued to increase and went over 100. The prime minister declared a state of emergency on April 7 to 7 populated provinces and it was extended to all 47 provinces on April 16. About 2 weeks has passed but Tokyo had 112 new patients today. We still have to stay home. So I’ll post what I couldn’t post during cherry seasons.
★Temples around Hon-komagome on March 25, 2020 No.1 It was already about 1 month ago. On the way and from Asukayama Park, I saw temples with Cherries around Hon-komagome. There are a lot of temples in Hakusan, Hon-komagome and Yanaka. I believe these areas located the edge of Edo town, people made cemeteries and temples. These are pictures of local temples. I found a bonsai Shidare-zakura in front of a closed shop.
★Temples around Hon-komagome on March 25, 2020 No.2 There is a little bigger temple with a lot of cherries near Hon-komagome station. There was a double cherry I didn’t know blooming beside a nice old looking temple gate. There were a lot of weeping cherries. Two Beni-shidares were full bloom and about 15 Yae-beni-shidares were just started blooming. There were several Somei-yoshinos and 2 Fuyu-zakuras on the approach. Some other cherries, single and double, are in the cemetery. The name of the temple is Kichijo-ji. After I came back I checked web and knew it was a historical temple build in 1458 by Dokan Ota who originally built Edo Castle in 1457 more than 1 century before Ieyasu Tokugawa built Edo Castle. The temple first located near Wadakura Gate of Imperial Palace ( it was lost now) and moved near Suidobashi station when Ieyasu tokugawa built Edo castle. Then it moved to the location because of large fire in 1657. Kichijo-ji is also a name of the very popular shopping town locates west of Shinjuku. I didn’t know before, but its name came from this temple. Before the large fire in Edo in 1657, shops were located at the approach of Kichijo-ji Temple near Suidoubashi station. After the fire, the temple moved to Komagome, near the edge of the Edo town at that time. But shops moved out of Edo to the west of Shinjuku and named the new village Kichijo-ji from the name of the temple. In Edo period the temple was very big and used as the school of 1000 Monks. It changed to be a private university after the World War Ⅱ. But the buildings were burned in the World WarⅡ. Only the temple gate built in 1802 and one more building are remained from Edo period.
It’s May 1, 2020 today. It was a warm nice day and I visited Junsai Pond park. Now it’s mid-spring and Japanese Azaleas are blooming beautifully. Wisterias were finishing.Yellow Irises have just started blooming. Young leaves of the trees were beautiful green. Leaves of Japanese Maple are bright green. But we are still under Corona Crisis. 165 new patients were confirmed positive in Tokyo. The prime minister declared the extension of State of Emergency. Terms are going to be decided on May 4. Anyway we have to stay home for more weeks(except one hour walk for exercise every day ). I’ll write more posting of what I couldn’t post.
★Sotobori Park on March 26, 2020 It was also a beautiful spring day. The governor of Tokyo asked self-restraint on the evening of March 25, the night before. I visited Sotobori Park and walked from Ichigaya station to Iidabashi Station. Sotobori means Outer Moat of the castle. It’s a famous Hanami spot and usually very crowded. It locates about 45 minutes walk or 20 minutes ride from my place and I saw a line of Somei-yoshinos blooming beautifully from the train many times, but it was the first time I had visited there. When I arrived at Ichigaya station, I found Somei-yoshinos on the North side of the moat hadn’t become full bloom. It rather looked like just started blooming. This year Somei-yoshinos started to bloom too early. Water temperature hadn’t become warm enough. So Cherries beside the water were rather slow. I decided to walk on the south side of the moat. I didn’t know there were so many cherries on the south bank. Cherries were planted both side of the promenade. You can walk under the tunnel of cherry blossoms. There are not only Somei-yoshinos but many other cherries are planted on the bank. I saw Shirotae blooming at a small children park. There were Yama-zakuras, many hybrid cherries and an unknown double cherry blooming on the bank. It might be Ichiyo but I think flowers were a little smaller. It’s very nice place to enjoy cherries. There were still people enjoying a nice spring day but not as crowded as usual cherry seasons. There were nursery kids, too. There are new tall buildings near Iidabashi station. There some kinds of new cherry trees were planted. But some already finishing. The famous restaurant by the water looked nice but not as crowded as usual.
★ Videos of ”Yanesen” from NHK World TV There was a TV program which showed Cherries in Kyoto last night, May 2,2020. It was so beautiful. It was the re-broadcasting of the program on April 4, 2020. I wondered it might have become a NHK World TV program. I searched it but I couldn’t find it. It’s the one and a half-long program. It might be too long. Instead, I found programs about “Yanesen” . Yanesen, located off the tourist path east of Ueno Park in Taito and Bunkyo wards, is the collective name for the Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi neighborhoods after their first syllables. They are the neighborhood I go through when I bike to Ueno Park. When I wrote about Kichijo-ji (#255)in Hon-komagome, I wrote Yanaka and Hakusan also have many temples. Yanka is an area of 100 ha. where about 10000 people live. But there are 60 temples there.Yanaka is also known for Yanaka cemetery. The video shows temples and the cemetery in cherry time at the first part. NHI World-Japan Yanesen Part 1 The video Yanesen, Part 2 shows Nezu and Sendagi. It shows Nezu Shrine which is about 20 minutes walk from my place and I often take a community bus which drive by the shrine. Nezu Shrine is famous not for cherries but for azaleas. It also famous for Torii gates which are much smaller than Fushimi Shrine in Kyoto. Now azaleas must be full bloom and very beautiful. I visited there 2 years ago. But I can’t visit there this year because of COVID-19. I am posting these photos here. And you can enjoy “Yanesen Part 2” if you have free time at home. NHK World-Japan Yanesen, Part 2
Thank you, Wendy. I appreciate you love them. Also I'm grateful to those videos. Yanesen is getting popular among Japanese, too. One of my friends asked me to take her to Yanesen before. At that time I didn't know Yanesen well and I turned down her. But now I can take her!!
★My Bonsai and potted cherries in the spring of 2020 My second bonsai Asahiyama died several years ago. I might not have posted the second Asahiyama. My Second bonsai Autumnalis (#157) died 3.4 years ago. I also failed in making my own Bonsai Autumnalises. Then I bought a cherry bonsai named Botan. Botan cherry means double cherry. Bonsai of double cherry is rather rare. But it wasn’t double cherry. It’s a single cherry with some extra petals. It wasn’t as beautiful as I hoped. And it suddenly died soon after it finished blooming last year. I couldn’t post it. So at the end of October I ordered Bonsai Autumnalis on the internet again. It was the best shaped Bonsai Autumnalis I’ve ever had. It started blooming in November and continued blooming a little after New year. Also I bought 2 young cherry trees from Co-op delivery. They were cheep. One is Arashiyama and the other is prunus Avium called Sato-nishiki. Japanese fruit cherries are very tasty. The catalogue said we can grow Sato-nishiki in a pot on a small veranda and enjoy flowers and fruits. March 20. 2020 But to my disappointment, Avium and Autumnalis didn’t have flowers this spring!! Also the young tree of Avium is a little bigger than I imagined. I wonder I can grow until it has fruits. Amanogawa bloomed beautifully. But after flowers finished it became not good shape. I wonder it will have flowers next year. March 28,2020------------------------ April 3,2020 Asahiyama on May 5--------------- Strange shaped leaves of Sato-nishiki on May 5,2020
I would never recognize those as Prunus avium leaves. That article you linked to notes that the Sato in the name is the name of the breeder, not related the term Sat0-zakura.
I'm sorry , Wendy. You must be confused with Sato-zakura when you see Sato-nishiki as Avium. "sato" of Sato-zakura and Sato-nishiki are completely different for Japanese. So when I wrote about Sato-nishiki, I didn’t think of Sato-zakura at all!! Actually the pronunciations of 2 Sato are different. I shouldn’t spell like Sato-nishiki. “sato” of Sato-zakura is the word of 2 syllables like Sa-to. “sato” of Sato-nishiki is 3 syllables like Sa-to-o. So I should have spelled Sato-o, or Satoh or Satou. “sato” of Sato-zakura in Chinese character is “里“. It means village, you know. “sato” of Sato-nishiki in Chinese Character is “佐藤“. It is the most popular surname in Japan now. There are about 1893000 Satos in Japan now. Chinese character of "sa" or “佐” means “assistance” or “helping people by his side”. "to-o" or “籐” means rattan. I don’t know why Satoh-nishiki isn’t a cultivar name. As I see the strange shaped leaves weren’t in those shapes from the first. New leaves are in normal shapes. When they grow, they become strange shaped. I think the reason might be short of water, the pot is too small or some disease.
Thank you for the Japanese lesson, Mariko! You did spell it the way the website you linked to spelled it. I don't think I have ever heard that surname - it is amazing to read that it is such a common name. The leaf margins don't look like avium - maybe it took on that characteristic from whatever it was hybridized with.
Wendy, I can't remember how the leaves of Avium looked like and also there's not Prunus Avium on "Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver" because it's not an ornamental cherry. Anyway the book doesn't show leaves of the cherries very well. I couldn't find leaves of Avium in Japanese cherry books because of the same reason. Fruit cherry trees are not planted in Tokyo. If there's no coronavirus, I could have visit Yamanashi or Fukushima for Sato-nishiki, but we are still under the State of Emergency. I hope I can visit there for cherry picking in June!!
Mariko, you can check out the third and fourth photos on this page: Micscape Microscopy and Microscope Magazine, and the last photo. It calls them wild cherries.
It‘s already May 11, 2020 today. The temperature went up to 29 degrees in Tokyo. In Katsunuma, Yamanashi prefecture, known for good wine products, it went up to 33.4 degrees. It’s like summer in Japan. But the temperature of the morning and evening stays cool. It’s not Japanese summer yet. Tokyo is still under the State of Emergency. So I’m continue to post this cherry season. ★Sotobori Park on April 3,2020. This year the weather got cooler after Somei-yoshino started to bloom record early. Then it snowed on March 29 as I posted at#248. But on April 3, Somei-yoshinos around my place were finishing. In the afternoon, my husband and I visited Sotobori Park to see Somei-yoshinos on the north-west side of the moat which were not blooming on March 27. This time we started from Iidabashi station. Somei-yoshinos there were blooming beautifully. The famous restaurant and Café near Iidabashi station were open but unbelievably quiet. We had coffee at the Café. Usually there are long que to enter the café and the restaurant is booked out far before we know the blooming time of Somei-yoshino. Boats were not operated. There were less people around there than Hakusan. Hakusan, my area, is a residential area of full-time working couples and singles. I feel there are more people on weekdays because of telecommuting. But Iidabashi is a business district. It became very quiet. Somei-soshinos there were about 80% bloom. But some trees locates near the ventilating hole of a subway were only 20% bloom yet. Cherries on the south-east side of the moat where I walked on March 27, 2020 were finished like other places in and around Tokyo. We enjoyed cherries very much at Sotobori Park.
On May 14,2020, the States of Emergency was cancelled in 39 prefectures out of 47 in Japan. On May 21, in 3 more prefectures; Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo, it was cancelled. Now only 5 prefectures are now under the State of Emergency; Tokyo and 3 surrounding prefecture, Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa, and Hokkaido; the north Island. To be cancelled, new COVID-19 patients in a week must be less than 0.5 per 100,000 people. It was cleared in Tokyo recently but not in Kanagawa yet. But numbers of the new patients are really decreasing. So the government decided to cancel the State of Emergency all over Japan on May 26. So I’m still under the state of Emergency and recommended to stay home. But still I am busy and I can’t write postings I’d like to post. Today, May 24, 2020, O-yama-zakuras are full bloom at Beppo Park in eastern Hokkaido. It must be almost the last location where cherries are full bloom except on high mountains. ★Leaves of Yae-beni-shidare and Blooming Order This Year This year Beni-shidares were very beautiful. The small Beni-shidares in Koishikawa BG and Junsai Pond Park looked rather big and nice now. But not Yae-beni-shidares. Some of them looked not good because leaves came out before flowers open. I saw typical one at Kichijo-ji in Hon-komagome. First I thought it was Autumnalis weeping. For in Japan, Autumnalis has pink flowers with leaves in spring. I also saw some near my mother’s. Their flowers weren’t dark pink and not beautiful with leaves. I think leaves opened rather early this spring. Usually maples become green when somei-yoshino becomes full bloom. But this year I saw maples green at Koishikawa Korakuen Garden with Beni-shidare on March 20 and Hotel New Otani on March 22 when Somei-yoshinos weren’t blooming so much. Also blooming order was very strange. In Tokyo Somei-yoshino started to bloom on March 14 and became full bloom on March 22. But in Kagoshima, the southernmost prefecture, except Okinawa Islands where Somei-yoshinos can’t live, Somei-yoshino started blooming on April 1 and became full bloom on April 19.These are latest records. it was much later than some part of Tohoku district, northern Japan. They say there wasn’t enough coldness for starting to prepare blooming. It might be the reason some Somei-yoshino trees located near the ventilating holes of the subway were 20 % bloom on the bank of Sotobori Moat on April 3.
It’s May 26, 2020 today. The State of Emergency was cancelled all over Japan yesterday evening and new normal life under the threats of coronavirus has started in Tokyo today. Now restaurants can open until 10 pm and more shops opened today. But trains weren’t crowded yet and not many people dined out tonight. I was looking forward to the opening of Botanical Gardens. But now I think none of them in Tokyo will open in May. Still we are supposed to stay in Tokyo prefecture yet. ★Somei-yoshinos at Kameido Central Park and on Kyu-naka River on April 4, 2020 On April 4, 2020, I took a train and saw Somei-yoshinos were still beautiful at Kameido Central Park and on the bank of Kyu-nakagawa River where I reported Kawazu-zakuras were blooming on Frbruary 9, 2017, #160.
★Kanzans in Junsai Pond Park and Kasumi-zakura near my mother’s on April 15 I didn’t have a chance to see Cherries more than 10 days. Then I visited Junsai Pond park near my mother’s in Ichikawa on April 15,2020. There Somei-yoshinos were completely finished and just 2 Kanzns there were blooming beautifully. I saw some double cherries were blooming at the private garden of a house overlooking the park. It was too far to identify them. Young maple leaves were showing beautiful foliage over the maple lane. Kasumi-zakura near my mother’s house was just started blooming on April 15. Kasumi-zakura is one of 10 wild cherries (including kumano-zakura found in 2018) native in Japan. I had seen Kasumi-zakura in Hokkaido, but I couldn’t have find kasumi-zakuras in Tokyo and around for years. Then I suddenly realized the tree which locates on the bank just 50 meters from my mother’s was Kasumi-zakura. I knew that tree but I never thought it was cherry tree. The tree shape is not like other cherries. It’s quite upright tree and it blooms after Kanzan became full bloom. Kasumi-zakura is a single white cherry which blooms very late with leaves. Flowers are small so you have to be very careful. It is not used as an ornamental cherry. It bloomed more on April 19 when Kanzans became out of peek bloom. Wisterias were very beautiful at that time on April 19.2020.
Hi @eteinindia, I'm loving your diary postings of the Cherry tree from Tokyo. All very serene and peaceful at the moment. I know the Cherry season is coming to an end, so I really hope you continue this thread in Spring 2021. (Olympic year) fingers crossed. D
Thank you,@Acerholic. Next year I'd like to visit more places and I'd like to post more about double cherries and late blooming cherries, because I have posted early cherries a lot!! But before I finish posting of this year, I'd like to post what I couldn't post last year and so on.
★The Theme Song of the Morning Serial Drama of NHK with pictures of Fukushima prefecture ★The Theme Song of the Morning Serial Drama of NHK with pictures of Fukushima prefecture Now NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation, is showing the morning serial drama, “Yell” every weekday morning. It is a story of the famous composer, Yuji Koseki from Fukuhima. He made many collage and sports yells, popular music, and classical music. The theme song of the drama is “hoshikage no eelu” sung by GReeen. It means “Yells under the Starlight Sky” Fukushima brunch of NHK made a YouTube of the theme song with beautiful pictures of Fukushima; flowers, nature, festivals, people and children in 4 seasons. There are beautiful pictures of cherries. Please watch and enjoy it. Unfortunately I can’t make translation with YouTube. So it is in Japanese and first 25 seconds and last 1minutes you can’t understand. [エール] 主題歌 GReeeeN『星影のエール』でつなぐ福島県59市町村PV