Yellow “Sakura” – Kyofukuji Temple, Nada-ku, Kobe
Yesterday we went all the way to Maya mountain. We followed a road next to Oji Zoo and up the slope to a place where Saigo river (西郷川) enters the city. We knew there was a temple complex at the very end of the road but its doors were always closed. This time we had luck.
First we entered a new looking Buddhist temple and this was the place where we saw the blooming in yellow tree:
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Even though the tree was resembling a cherry it was most probably a kind of plum tree (or ume – 梅 in Japanese). The rest of the temple’s garden was also very nice:
As to the temple it turned out to belong to Nichiren Buddhist Sect and its name was Kyofukuji (教福寺). The first two kanji of the name literally mean “teaching lucky” or “happy teaching” (the third one (寺) means temple) .
Nichiren Buddhism is one of the biggest sects in Japan. Its followers believe that every person can reach enlightenment during his/her own life. Their teaching is also closely related to the so called Lotus Sutra (you can see stylized representations of the lotus on many places around the temple).
What I liked most about the temple (apart from the nice garden) was the clean, white lines of its architecture.
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Here are the rest of the pictures:
Just one last image from the edge of the roof of the temple (I like the shape and shadows in it):
To be honest – this was a warming post. The real canopy of shapes and colors was a little bit further the road (where the rest of the complex was situated). I will need a day or two more to sort out all the photos from there. I am starting to have a feeling though that I am living in one of the most rich of cultural heritage places in Japan and I never even suspected this before I joined the Japanese blog-shpere. I wander what will happen if one day I start to thoroughly explore and the adjacent to Nada-ku wards :)
7 Comments on Yellow “Sakura” – Kyofukuji Temple, Nada-ku, Kobe
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the “yellow sakura” might be a soap tree which is also just blooming in my Japanese garden. But it’s difficult to be certain from your photo?
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/soaptr60.html
Hi zichi,
You may be correct. I used to knew quite well botanic in the high school but mainly the European species.
I think I will buy soon a Japanese botanic textbook and try to learn some.
BTW you stopped coming at Japundit. It is not so cool there anymore without you!
Wahtever kind of tree it is, it’s a welcomed sight in these cold days. A promise of the spring to come soon. Great pics! just retweeted
Loco
Hello locohama,
Thank you fro the comment and the re-tweet.
I like your stories.
I am adding you to my blogroll.
Cheers :)
I suppose it might be Robai, scientific name Chimonanthus praecox.
(Robai was introduced from China in 17th century, and has been planted in gardens because it blooms earliest.)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla%3Aja%3Aofficial&hs=AFV&q=Chimonanthus&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&oq=
Thank you jtomi,
This is exactly what it is.
Today we visited a new temple (Sumiyoshi eki, Kobe) and there was fully blooming tree like this. It is the same as the pictures from Google and its aroma is very nice.
I will put sakura in quotes.