Sakura trees were full-bloomed / Edogawa park, Bunkyo ward

I have abandoned posting for a long time, and received some concerning message. Many thanks for your concern. I am OK. I’d been just,,,,, loafing, sorry!

Usually, here in Tokyo, Sakura (cherry blossom) season would be the end of March, however this year the cold weather remained even in the beginning of April. Last weekend, at last, Sakura trees were full-bloomed.

Lee and I visited Edogawa park for O-Hanami.

It was around 9 am, but a lot of people already came to enjoy Sakura.


I heard that a lot of people gathere here and have a O-hanami party here in the evening.

Last Octorber, Lee became 9 years old. Getting older a little bit, but he is still Genki. Even now, he likes walking.

The closest station: Edogawabashi (Tokyo Metro, Yurakucho-line)Other Edogawa Park postings: 2008/05/03, 2010/03/24 , 03/29

Sakura: not in full bloom yet / Edogawa park, Bunkyo ward (part 2)

Since theSakura in Tokyo started to bloom on last Monday, the temperature here has been getting colder again. Thanks to the lower temperature, they say the Sakura will be still bloomed till next weekend.

Here is the Sakura of Edogawa park on last Sunday morning.

About 50-70% of Sakura was in bloom.

The weather was cloudy. It was just a little bit cold for Ohanami.

The entrance of Edogawa park is the side of the Edogawabashi crossing. You can see the Sakura trees from the "1A" exit of the Edogawabashi subway station (Yurakucho-line, Tokyo Metro).

I hope the weather will be good on next weekend.

Ohanami season is coming soon / Edogawa park, Bunkyo ward

This Monday was the national holiday "Shunbun-no-hi", Spring Equinox day. Astronomically, Shunbun-no-hi is defined as the day when night and day are of equal length, but for the ordinary people who don't care about astronomy, like me, this day is the day they can feel Spring coming.

In the morning of the Shunbun-no-hi, Lee and I went to the Edogawa park and found "Spring".

Somei-Yoshino, the most popular Sakura tree, started to bloom.

I guess we can enjoy Sakura in full bloom this weekend. I'll go there to take Sakura pics again.

Another Edogawa park posting is here.

Goblins at work / Kishibojin @Zoshigaya, Toshima ward

Kishibojin. My favorite place.

I love this cozy temple and have often visited here with Lee, but I realized that I had overlooked an interesiting creature in this temple until today.

Can you see that?

Here it is!

Goblin has received the weight of the roof.
Other goblins are on the both side and also have held up the roof.

Right side,

... and left side.

The name of these goblins is Amanojaku. They are not so outrageous bad creature, but they try to do anything that is against the rule intentionally anytime. So, Buddha commanded them to hold the temple roof as punishment.
There are many goblins in the Buddhism art work. You can see them holding up big heavy incense burner, trampled dowm by the guardian statues.... poor Amanojaku!

The antique market is opened here on the 4th Sunday of each month.

Owners were preparing for open stalls.

Wow, Otis Redding's "(Sittin' on) the dock of the bay"!

Assumedly, this might be the first press in Japan. I forgot to ask the price of the disc. Interestingly, the title was written on the cover as "Dock ov bay" in Japanese characters. The disc on the right is Mary Hopkin's "Those were the days". You can see the Apple record's logo in the cover. Please click on the picture to enlarge.

"No dog toys?"

The biggest event of this temple "Oeshiki" is coming soon (16-18th Oct.).

Regarding the Oeshiki, please visit my previous posting(1, 2).

Other Kishibojin postings are here(1, 2).

"Let's get back home through the Homeiji temple yard."

Edogawa Park and Basho-An / Mejirodai, Sekiguchi, Bunkyo ward

Edogawa Park

Near the Edogawabashi station of Yurakucho-line (Tokyo Metro), there is a small and calm park which we often visit.

This is more like a promenade than a “park”. Narrow but long cozy space along the Kanda river.

In Edo era, the water of Kanda river was supplied to Kanda, Nihonbashi, and Kyobashi area of Edo city through the artificial water line. This was lifeline of Edo and called “Kanda Josui (Kanda water supply)”.
This area was a bifurcation point of water line. There is a ruin of water gate of the water supply in the park even now.

The capital freeway was running alongside the river but this park was incredibly calm.

Basho-An (House of Matsuo Basho)
Around 100 meters away from the Edogawa park, there is a small old temple on the Kanda river.

Before telling about this temple, let me tell you about Haiku, the shortest poem in the world. It consists of three short phrases, 1st and last phrases are 5 syllabled, and 2nd phrase contains 7 syllables. One season word is required.

I heard that some of elementary or Junior-high school in the West teaches Haiku in English or other languages. Have you ever seen this one?

Furuikeya / kawazu tobikomu / mizuno oto

Old pond / frogs jumping in / sound of water

（translated by Lafcadio Hearn; you can find a lot of other translations of this Haiku here）

This is a one of the most famous Haiku, and the author of this was Matuo Basho (1644-1694), the Haiku saint. Before him, Haiku was a kind of hobby for common folk, but he ennobled it as literary creations.
Basho started his Haiku author's carrier as an amateur in his home town Iga (Mie prefecture). He was also a petty official.
When he was 36years old, he moved to Edo (Tokyo) to study Haiku. In next year, he found a job of a site overseer of the flood maintenance project of Kanda Josui.
He had lived in a small temple on the river for 4 years. 4 years after he had worked there, he quitted his job and moved to Fukagawa (Edo downtown area), and became a 100% professional Haiku author.

After his death, this place became a mecca of his disciples, and people named here Basho-An.

Ukiyoe artist Andou Hiroshige drew this temple and the river in his series of pictures "Edo Meisho Hyakkei (Edo 100 notable sights)".

This place has been loved by people.