Cherry blossom festival in Honjo Park

On April 19th, hubby and I went to Hanami cherry blossom festival at Honjo Park in Yurihonjo City. Hanami is a traditional Japanese custom of viewing and enjoying the beauty of flowers, usually cherry blossoms (Sakura) or Japanese plum blossoms (Ume).

Honjo Park is located about 2 kilometers southwest of our home and it took us just 5 minutes of car ride to reach the car parking lot located near the park. We parked our car and walked for about 5 minutes to reach the entrance area of Honjo Park. Near the entrance area, we saw several Sakura trees in full bloom. It was a beautiful sight to behold. We also got a wonderful close up view of the Sakura flowers that surrounded us. In addition, we saw many red and white paper lanterns put up along the pathways inside the park, which increased the decorative and festive atmosphere of the park. It was simply superb. We took several photos of the blooming Sakura trees near the entrance area inside the park.

I am standing near the entrance area inside Honjo Park with many paper lanterns along a pathway

A blooming Sakura tree near the entrance area of the park

Blooming flowers on the tree

Close up view of the flowers

Yet another close up view of the flowers

I am standing near a blooming Sakura tree

There was festive mood everywhere and many people were enjoying having snacks at several temporary stalls put up near the entrance area inside the park. There were many stalls for playing carnival games too. We saw an interesting stall with colorful birds chirping inside a cage. We walked past these stalls and continued walking leisurely along a paved pathway that was surrounded by fully bloomed Sakura trees on both sides of the path. At one corner inside the park, we saw a combination of blooming Sakura flowers and colorful tulips. Such a combination looked so fabulous and enjoyable.

I am standing in front of the food stalls

A pair of colorful birds inside a cage at a stall

Blooming Sakura and I

Blooming Sakura and colorful tulips

We continued walking along the pathway and enjoyed the views of blooming Sakura trees all around us. While walking, we noted that Honjo Park surrounds a lake that is ringed with Sakura trees, which were also at an advanced stage of blooming. The park is located on a slightly raised ground, and so we got wonderful views of the city below. After about 15 minutes of leisurely walking, we reached a pedestrian bridge over a road named Honjo Kaido that runs adjacent to the park. Standing on the bridge, we appreciated the blooming Sakura on both sides of the road and clicked several photos of the surroundings from the bridge.

The lake ringed with blooming Sakura trees

Blooming Sakura trees in the foreground and the city in the background as viewed from the raised ground of Honjo Park

I am standing on the pedestrian bridge over Honjo Kaido Road along with blooming Sakura on both sides of the road

Blooming Sakura and I near the bridge

Hubby standing on the bridge along with blooming Sakura in the background

After enjoying the views from the pedestrian bridge, we turned around and started walking back towards the entrance area of the park. But we took a slight detour and walked along another paved pathway inside the park. We noted that this pathway was surrounded by many very old Sakura trees that looked truly majestic in fully bloomed condition. It was a wonderful and memorable experience for us to walk along this pathway surrounded by such old blooming Sakura trees.

I am walking along a pathway surrounded by blooming Sakura trees

Hubby is standing along the pathway. Some of the trees along this pathway are very old.

After about an hour or so of strolling through Honjo Park with blooming Sakura all around, we returned back home very happy and peaceful. It was really a wonderful day for us as we immensely enjoyed viewing the Sakura blossoms.

Yurihonjo hinakaido doll festival - part 2

As I wrote in the previous post, on 13th and 21st March hubby and I went to see a doll festival known as Yurihonjo hinakaido. The festival is a public annual traditional display of dolls and is held in six public exhibition halls as well as fifty different locations within Yurihonjo city of Akita prefecture. This festival event is held in the month of March. While hina matsuri is a private display of hina dolls at homes of families with daughters, hinakaido festival is a public display of antique hina dolls some of which date back at least several hundred years. In the previous post I wrote about the display of Edo period hina dolls at Yashima kyodo bunka hozon denshu shisetsu in Yashima. Today I will write about our visit to Shushin-kan in Honjo Park where exquisite hina dolls were displayed in an exhibition room.

Shushin-kan in Honjo Park
On 21st March, hubby and I went to see the display of hina dolls at Shushin-kan in Honjo Park. Honjo Park is located on the site of Honjo Castle which was built in 1613. Shushin-kan and Honmaru-no-yakata are two halls located in the center of the park. We can learn about the history and culture of Honjo at these two halls. Although hina doll display was held in both the halls, we visited only Shushin-kan hall. The park is located about three kilometers away from our home and it took us ten minutes to reach there by our car. Various types of old and exquisite hina doll sets like kokinbina and kyohoubina were exhibited in one of the rooms of Shushin-kan hall. The exhibition room looked so beautiful with several hina doll sets. We moved inside the room in a counterclockwise direction and enjoyed seeing the antique doll sets one at a time.

Kami-ningyo paper dolls of Mishima Michi
The first hina doll set on display was made by Mishima Michi. She was an elementary school teacher. In 1961, after retiring from her job as a teacher, she started making kami-ningyo paper dolls using washi Japanese paper. These kami-ningyo dolls are made of Tosa washi paper of Kochi prefecture. Three-dimensional dolls are one of the salient features of Mishima Michi’s paper dolls. The dolls on display have two dimensional traditional collars that express the beauty of shoulder line, and the entire shape of dolls have a three-dimensional feeling. These dolls were donated by Mishima Eiji to the local historical artifacts museum named Honjo kyodo shiryokan in 1998.

Kami-ningyo paper dolls of Mishima Michi

Emperor and empress (dairibina) paper dolls made by Mishima Michi

Hina dolls of Watanabe-ke
The second set of hina dolls on display belongs to the family (ke in Japanese) of Watanabe Yoshio of Mikura town. On the back of the case where this doll set is kept, the year 1838 is written which is probably the year the dolls were bought. It is also written on the case that the doll set belongs to Jou-un-in. Jou-un-in was the wife of the ninth feudal lord Rokugo Masatsune of Honjo-han of Dewa province. The wife was originally from Ise province and moved to Honjo after marriage to the feudal lord. These hina dolls do not have pedestal. The height of emperor and empress dolls (dairibina) is 45 cm, which is very large. These dairibina dolls are of the type kyohoubina. The dolls have gorgeous clothes and kazari (accessory) decorations, which is one of the salient features of kyohoubina dolls. The gorgeous clothes and the hugeness of these dolls represent the peak of hina matsuri festival during Edo period.

Hina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Dairibina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Empress (ohinasama) doll of Watanabe-ke

Emperor (odairisama) doll of Watanabe-ke

Five male dolls representing musicians (gonin bayashi) kept on the right side of dairibina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Five male dolls representing samurai attendants and ministers kept on the left side of dairibina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Hubby appreciating the hina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Me standing in front of hina dolls of Watanabe-ke

Hina dolls donated by Sudo-ke
The third set of hina dolls on display was donated by Sudo family. This doll set is of the type Kyohoubina and was made in 1853. Odairisama (emperor) and ohinasama (empress) dolls look very elegant and the clothes of the dolls look gorgeous and well maintained.

Hina dolls donated by Sudo-ke

Dairibina dolls of Sudo-ke

Ohinasama doll of Sudo-ke

Hina dolls donated by Miura-ke
The fourth doll set on display was donated by Miura family. This doll set is of the type kokinbina and was made in the beginning of Showa period. The dolls are well maintained and look almost practically new.

Hina dolls donated by Miura-ke

Dairibina dolls and three court ladies (san-nin kanjo) of Miura-ke

Ohinasama doll of Miura-ke

Hina dolls donated by Miura family were the last ones on display in the exhibition room. Shushin-kan hall is basically a facility to learn about the history and culture of Honjo. So we moved around inside the hall and saw various exhibits related to the history of Honjo. There was an armor set on display which belonged to Kusunoki family of Yurihonjo, who later donated it to Honjo kyodo shiryokan museum. Family crest of a famous samurai Kusunoki Masashige is put on the armor. He is remembered as an ideal of samurai loyalty and belonged the transition era from Kamakura period to Nanbokucho period. Although the family crest of the famous samurai is there on the armor but little is known about its origin and it is unclear as to how the armor reached Kusunoki family of Yurihonjo.

Hubby standing next to a samurai armor that has family crest of Kusunoki Masashige

Top portion of the samurai armor

We enjoyed seeing the antique hina doll display at Shushin-kan hall in Honjo Park.

Cherry blossom festival

On April 18th, Hubby and I went to see Cherry blossom festival at Seishi park in Nikaho city and at Honjo park in Yurihonjo city of Akita prefecture. Hanami (flower viewing) is the traditional Japanese custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, usually cherry blossoms (sakura) or Japanese plum blossoms (ume). Sakura bloom in Japan from late January (in Okinawa) to early May (Hokkaido). These blossoms last only a week or two. The custom of enjoying hanami flowers is said to have started during the Nara period (710–794) due to the influence of Chinese Tang dynasty in Japan. Though it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning, by the Heian period (794-1185), sakura came to attract more attention. Sakura originally was used to announce the harvest of the year as well as the beginning of the rice-planting season. Emperor Saga of the Heian period started the practice of holding flower-viewing parties with sake and feasts underneath the cherry blossom trees in the imperial court in Kyoto. The custom was originally limited to the aristocratic people of the imperial court, but soon spread to samurai society, and by the Edo period, to the common people as well. In modern-day Japan, hanami mostly consists of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night.

The day we went for sakura viewing was a clear day with very fine weather. So hubby was in a mood for a long drive. We started from our home at about twelve noon. First we went to see the sakura blossoms in Seishi park in Nikaho city. Hubby took a long way around and it took us almost an hour to reach the park from our home. On our way, we got a beautiful view of Mt. Chokai and many windmills in Nikaho city.

Mt. Chokai

Windmills

Hubby also showed me the golf course in Nikaho city where he usually practices his swings on alternate weekends.

Golf course

Near Seishi park, we saw funny looking lamp posts in the shape of ship anchor.

Anchor shaped lamp posts

Sakura festival in Seishi park
Seishi park surrounds a lake and is ringed with cherry trees, which were in full bloom. There was festival mood everywhere in the park. Lots of families, groups of friends, and even groups from companies sat under the fully open cherry blossoms and were having a picnic celebration.

Sakura festival

People having picnic in the park

There were about one thousand fully bloomed cherry blossoms in the park overlooking Mt. Chokai, which created a phenomenal view.

View in the park

Many people were leisurely taking a walk on the pedestrian road surrounded by sakura blossom. It was a superb view.

Road surrounded by Sakura trees

Almost all the sakura were of the variety called somei yoshino. Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. They bloom and usually fall within a week, before the leaves come out. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom.

Few photos of blooming sakura trees

Close up view of sakura blossoms

Hubby took a few photos of me with the sakura blossoms.

Me posing with sakura blossoms

I also took several photos of hubby while he strolled in the park.

Hubby posing with sakura blossoms

Sakura festival in Honjo park
After enjoying the hanami in Seishi park, we returned to Yurihonjo. In Yurihonjo, we went to Honjo park to enjoy the sakura festival. Honjo park also surrounds a lake and is ringed with cherry trees, which were in full bloom. There was festival mood everywhere and many people were enjoying snacks at several stalls near the entrance of the park.

Entrance of Honjo park sakura festival

Food stalls in the park

Hubby and I took a leisurely walk in the park and enjoyed viewing the sakura blossoms.

Honjo park sakura blossoms

View from top of a bridge in the park

In this park also, almost all the sakura trees were of the variety somei yoshino with pure white flowers. However, we noticed another variety called yaezakura, which had relatively large flowers, thick with rich pink petals. It was so beautiful.

Somei yoshino sakura

Yaezakura

Hubby took a few photos of me in the park.

Me posing with sakura blossoms


I also took a few photos of hubby walking and enjoying the sakura blossoms.

Hubby posing with sakura blossoms

Hubby watching something on a sakura tree

It was a bird on the sakura tree

It started to get dark as hubby and I strolled through Honjo park. After some time we returned back home very happy and peaceful. It was really a wonderful day for us as we immensely enjoyed viewing the sakura blossoms. Now the sakura bloom has already fallen in Akita prefecture and fresh green leaves adorn the sakura trees, which is also very pleasing to the eyes.