Kobe Obon Dancing Summer 2010
Here are the photos and the video from this year Obon Dancing festival (or Obon odori – お盆踊り in Japanese). Even though it looks like it is in the middle of the countryside it was just a few hundred meters from our apartment in one of the parks of HAT Kobe.
As usual there were a lot of food, drinks (beer) and of course dances.
Actually some of the food – frozen, white, sweet liquid in the form of sausages was distributed for free. On the next picture you can see what is happening when it arrived in the center of the festival.
Just one more picture of the dancing people:
It is really nice that both old and young people are participating. There are many local festivals like this in Japan every year and I thing they are one of the reasons to keep the communities “healthy”.
The official Obon Odori finished around 9:00 p.m. but after that the people started many small hanabi’s (fireworks). Here is a picture from our own one:
Proud to say that we were the last to stay in the park. It was almost 11:15 when we finally finished with the fireworks. I was really surprised that the people leaving in the neighbors didn’t call the police (some of the firecrackers and small rockets were really very noisy). But it was Obon Odori night after all and may be even the policemen themselves were celebrating somewhere :)
Chrysanthemum hills – Osaka castle
If there is a flower symbolizing Japan – this is definitely the chrysanthemum. In Japan it is known as the “sun” flower and as the emperor is descendant of the sun goddess it is his symbol too. The highest order of Japan is even called Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (大勲位菊花章).
Every year there are chrysanthemum festivals organized throughout Japan. The photos are from one of these festivals organized in Osaka castle in the autumn of 2008.
It was truly amazing – I never saw before a whole artificial hill composed of flowers.
If you look carefully you can see a small ropes and bamboo bridge on the chrysanthemum hill:
In the background of the next photo you can see an old military building. This used to be the Fourth Division Headquarters during the World War II. It explains why the castle was heavily damaged by areal bombardment during the war:
Yellow (golden) and red were the predominant colors but at some places the composition changed:
Just one more fragment of the flower canopy:
Just in case you have any doubts you are in Japan – some samurais lost in the crowd:
During such festivals there are usually some performances (dances for example) but we were apparently to late for this one.
One last photo from the chrysanthemum festival (and looking forward for the next one):
Kobe flower festival 2010
If you happen to visit Kobe at the and of April/beginning of May – do not miss it!
It is an annual event. The official name is Infiorata-Kobe (here is a link to its site – in Japanese) and usually it is organized in the center of Kobe near Sannomiya station. However, you can often find outposts of beautiful flower decorations in other parts of the city during the festival days. For example all the pictures on which the flower petals are covered with thin net are taken at HAT Kobe sea promenade.
For the compositions they use both flower petals (for the bright colors) or pine tree bark and branches (for the dark elements). Some of people who participate in the creation of the compositions are ikebana specialists. Usually the exposition lasts for 2 days.
Here are some selected pictures from Infiorata Kobe 2010 event:
The dancing girl:
And a detail of her skirt (I think you can feel the ikebana touch here):
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Here is a short video clip (usually there is a music also but it is difficult to hear because of the background noise):
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And the rest of the pictures:
Japan Nature Reclaimed
This blog entry was created for August Japan Blogs Matsuri kindly hosted by Through Eyes From Afar blog. The main theme of the matsuri is “Japan and Nature” so I decided to show some pictures from the small Japanese islands we visited this summer. The photos were specially selected to represent how the Japanese nature reclaims its loss to human space.
All the shots are from the islands of Ogijima (男木島) and Megijima (女木島) – both around 40 and 20 minutes away with ferry from the port of Takamatsu (高松市) city (I will prepare separate blog entries for these two islands in the very near future). Both of islands are quite small (especially Ogijima just a few hundred people inhabitants) and in both of them the advances of nature are quite well visible, despite the fact that they are so close to the relatively big city of Takamatsu.
First – the pictures from Ogijima – from the periphery of the village (we walked also deeper in the island where we saw some more traces of human dwellings but they were really just a traces submerged in vegetation).
I must mention though that on both islands you can see some efforts for renovation (especially on Megijima where there are several summer houses on the beach). Moreover, both of the islands are part of the Setouchi International Art Festival. One of the reasons for the creation of the festival was an attempt to re-vitalize the island communities. The question is how long this re-invigoration will last after the festival is over.
Here are the pictures from Megijima (actually there were many more abandoned houses but not all of them were submerged in vegetation yet):
I find it quite interesting that human communities which have survived for hundreds of years (if not thousands) are under threat of disappearing from the small Japanese islands in 21st century. Or maybe there will be a new wave of re-colonization one day :)
Kasa Odori (傘踊り) Traditional Japanese Umbrella Dance – The GeGeGe no Kitaro version
It is summer in Japan and everywhere we go it’s teaming of social activities. The photos (and the movies) are from this Sunday. We barely went out of home and we were “recruited” to watch the Kasa Odori – traditional Japanese dance performed with umbrellas. It is typical for eastern Tottori Prefecture (Tottori – ken (鳥取県)) and is typical for the so called Shan-shan festival. It dates back to Edo period.
The dance was performed just in front of BB Plaza Museum of Art. Here are the photos:
At the edge of the umbrellas there are small golden like metal things. That is why every type the dancers move the umbrellas make a very specific sound (you can here it in the movie):
And the rest of the photos:
The real reason for the dance was actually to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Kitaro (鬼太郎), a horror manga hero (there is an exposition dedicated to him and the rest of the Japanese yokai (monsters) in the nearby Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art). Here is the main culprit holding one of the umbrellas:
Well – that’s how it is in Japan during Obon weeks – traditions and manga in one :)
Kobe Hanabi (Fireworks) 2010
It’s 7th of August again and it is time for the annual Kobe Hanabi (Fireworks) event. (Just in case you do not know Hanabi (花火) means flowers (花) of fire ( 火) and the Japanese people do mean it when they prepare fireworks).
The observation point was the same as the previous year – HAT Kobe marine promenade:
The main difference this time was that we climbed high on the stairs of Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art so we had a nice vintage point toward Kobe Harbor Land – the main source of the fireworks. Needless to say we were completely surrounded by people (you can hear their voices in the background of the videos). It is interesting also that this time the fireworks continued for almost 40 minutes without any big interruptions – a really worthful to see event if you are around Kobe on 7th of August.
So let’s not lose time any more but jump right into the middle of the Hanabi action:
I took and a few shots with my camera but keep in mind that the main event was several kilometers from us and I had to use a really big zoom. Nevertheless some of the pictures are quite interesting. This is my favorite – it looks like battleship in its final hours (actually it is one of the Sannomiya storehouses):
Here are a few more “classical” photos from the fireworks:
After the end of the official city fireworks we moved (together with friends) to the nearby park and the hanabi continued for another almost 2 hours. Here is a small selection of our hanabi materials (and these were by far not the most powerful):
I think this night the inhabitants of HAT Kobe must have been very happy that the marine promenade park is well isolated from the rest of the complex by a chain of big office buildings :)
Rainy Ritsurin
It is said that Ritsurin Park (栗林公園, Ritsurin Kōen) is one of the top 10 most beautiful Japanese parks (栗林 – ritsurin means chestnut (栗) grove (林)). It is situated in Takamatsu (高松) city (the tall (高) pine tree city(松)) on the island of Shikoku.
We were there before during early spring but this blog entry photos are all from the end of June still in the middle of rainy season. Apparently one of the advantages to visit Ritsurin park during this time is that you can see the irises gardens in the park flowering.
On the east part of the park is situated a small mountain – Shiun-san (紫雲山) or the Purple Clouds mountain. For purple I am not sure but it definitely was cloudy that day. It looked very wild also (I do not think there was any kind of fence on this site of the park – there was no need of it anyway):
There are several interconnected lakes in Ritsurin Park. The biggest one of them is covered almost completely by enormous lotuses. They were just about to start flowering:
The park is also famous for its black pine trees and the intricate forms of their branches:
The most beautiful part of the park though is the area around so called Nanko lake with the elegant Engetsu-kyo (Crescent Moon) Bridge:
Behind the lake you can see Kikugetsu-tei – a 17th century tea house:
Now when I have Ritsurin Park rainy and sunny (not yet uploaded) photos the only think left is Ritsurin Koen covered in snow. I hope one they to have this photos too :).
We spent 3 days in Takamatsu and the surroundings so expect many new photos (and movies).
Osaka Sakura – The Full Blossom
As promised we revisited Sakuranomiya one week later.
The blossom was full or almost full (on some places you can see partially blooming trees).
We started again from Sakuranomiya station and went all the way to Tenma-bashi bridge (the distance is at least several kilometers). The cherry trees were continuing even further but we had to go back home.
Here is selection of some of the best photos.
I would like to start with one from the area around Kawasaki bridge (this is a small pedestrian bridge just before the big Tenma-bashi). I think you get a good idea for the sakura roof under which we were walking:
Just two more photos with the white sakura roof above our heads:
On the last photo to the right you can see some of the colorful kiosks which are everywhere. They sell usually bear and all kinds of yakiniku (grilled meat). Most often – yakitori (grilled chiken), buta (pig) and ika (squid). Be careful with the prices though. A small can of bear will cost you usually two or three times more if you buy it from these kiosks (500 yen) than in a ordinary shop. Speaking for the devil… here is a picture of yakiniku (most probably yakitori):
Now back to sakura.
A very beautiful “pinku” sakura tree next to OPA Towers (the bamboo structure is here just to help model it in the desired form):
Okawa river:
Kawasaki bridge (if you look carefully you can see the Osaka castle to the right but even if you can not see it – do not worry – a zoomed version of it is incoming :))
Here comes and the Osaka castle (I think you can easily go all the way to it starting from Sakuranomiya station if you have around 1-2 spare hours). By the way – medieval castle, sakura trees and railways bridges – it definitely must be Japan:
The dawn was coming over Tenma-bashi area.
It is interesting that the darker was getting the more people were coming especially around the drinking/eating kiosks.
The last photos are from Tenma-bashi bridge area by night. This is the furthest point we reached even though the sakura trees were continuing alongside the Okawa river for much further:
Last but not least the Sakuranomiya bridge (apparently violet is one of the main fashion colors in Japan this year):
As I mentioned the blossom of the trees was almost full. Actually in some areas (apparently the more shadowy one) the trees were in rather early stages of blossoming. So I think that there is at least one more week of sakura in front of us (or at least in Kansai area).
Night Sakura – Oji Zoo, Kobe
One of the best places for sakura in Kobe (especially during the night) is Oji Zoo (王子動物園).
It has 480 cherry trees and it is open during the pick of sakura season until 9:00 p.m (last entrance 8:30 p.m.).
The easiest way to reach it is with Hankyu (Oji Zoo station) or JR – Nada station (there is still around 10 min. walk up the hill though).
This is the street leading from Nada station toward Oji Zoo (cherry trees already here) .
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We were around 8:00 p.m. yesterday in the Zoo and there were definitely many people but nothing extreme in terms of crowds. Actually some areas (like the entertainment section with the carousels) looked almost deserted in comparison with the day. Still you could feel the sakura even there :)
Further the road – the white magic continues:
A second attraction (apart from sakura) are the young maple leaves. They are really beautiful – aren’t they?
Just in case you want to see how Oji Zoo looks during the day – here is a link to an old page I created with a few photos.
Anyway – Oji Zoo is a great place to be (especially if you are with kids) at any time of the year.
Osaka Sakura 2010 – Sakuranomiya Park
Today we visited Sakuranomiya Park in Osaka. I do not know if this is the most beautiful place for sakura in Osaka but for sure it is one of the most popular. The name of the park (sakuranomiya) actually can be translated as – sakura temple.
The easiest way to reach it is by the loop line (it is only 3 stations away from Umeda – the main Osaka station). The name of the station is the same as the Park – Sakuranomiya staion. The park itself is situated alongside the Ōkawa river and it is claimed to have 4200 cherry trees!
It wasn’t full sakura yet but almost all the trees had at least some flowers on them and you could see here and there clusters of completely blossoming cherry trees.
This is the view from Genpachi Bridge（源八橋) – immediately next to the GR station (BTW if you need an elevator you must take the Sakuranomiya station exit which is away from the river/bridge).
Here are the rest of the pictures (they were all taken from the site of the OPA Tower – a modern complex of several big towers resembling a little bit a smaller version of Roppongi hill in Tokyo (here is my Christmas visit there):
As you can see some of the trees were completely covered in the white petals. The river was also busy with entertainment ships. There were and a few hanami (“flower viewing”) already – people sitting or standing around big, blue mats and eating, drinking and chattering. But the allays overall looked like deserted in comparison with the real sakura time.
The next two photos are from the Sakuranomiya bridge (also known as “Ginbashi – “銀橋“) may be around half a kilometer (or slightly more) away from the GR station (direction Osaka castle):
On the second picture to the right you can see the OPA Towers.
It was getting late so the last of the pictures are on the sunset background:
Next weekend we are going again to Sakuranomiya Park. So expect many more photos from the center of Osaka sakura :)
