The Yoshino You Know

I made an unscheduled trip to Yoshino this morning. One of the most famous cherry blossom spots in Japan, it's only 45 minutes south of me by train but I procrastinated going the past couple springs. This morning I put on a pink shirt and thought, what the hell, I'll go right now.

It was kind of silly to go on a Sunday. I've been off for about a month so I could have gone on a week day. Instead, I chose to go when all the trains were packed with people.

Yet there were lots of quiet, peaceful spots, despite the crowds.

Someone broke a cup:

I bought no souvenirs, just some sakura mochi and a bottle of sake. The former are good and tart, the latter I'll drink to-night while enjoying the natural splendour of Skyrim.

X Sonnet #1832

To crash molasses, grapes were smashed with plums.
Detective roofs descend on guilty floors.
The graves of teeth were black in pregnant gums.
Another mouth awaits through talking doors.
Unending springs for steam could not be crossed.
The mammoth corpse provoked a pack of wolves.
A jacket's colour cooked the penguin lost.
A lover's judgement ran on wooden hooves.
Angelic dogs discoursed on tasty gin.
Disturbing strings would cut guitars to bone.
A final whistle changed to tranquil tin.
Contentment buzzed for ears across the phone.
A cherry glamour broke between the chips.
No movie's just a set of little clips.

Blossoming '23

The early spring continues. Some of the cherry trees have already started turning green and it's not even April yet. I'm glad it wasn't this warm when I first came to Japan in March 2020. I'd have had to wear my big overcoat in this heat since I didn't have an apartment to stash it in yet.

Here are some pictures from the river near my local grocery store.

Lots of people were about. I saw troops of elementary school students all in their matching yellow caps. They always remind me of ducklings.

The water will make you cry, kids, thereby begetting more water. It's a vicious cycle.

I'm still not sure what this sign is warning kids of. Blue river dolphins? With hands? The snake in the picture looks like an innocent bystander. The Japanese is just, "あぶない！", "Danger!"

Twitter Sonnet #1682

A spiral plan confused the worker day.
Beneath the street, the shoppers loudly moan.
It seems the store had sold a lump of clay.
Excessive cream can smash the waffle cone.
Reclusive metal snakes could solve the debt.
To climb spaghetti, cheese required legs.
A special mound of dough could fly a jet.
But growing eyes could harbour secret eggs.
Proportioned hats involved the heads of state.
So clamour back, the bleachers chill the soul.
For Fighting Man adorned with helm his pate.
Yet some there are would say it's but a bowl.
The early pink was deemed an honest heart.
About the lovers, blushing heavens part.

Where Pink Petals Go

Where art thy vim and vigor, Mrs. Bear? She's not, as they say in Japan, genki. I saw her in Uda last week.

It's been very warm for March, leading to some early blossoming.

I'm wondering if I should make a trip down to Yoshino, where there's a magnificent valley of cherry trees. Last time I went in March, it was too early and I saw just cobwebs of skinny grey branches. But this year maybe it's different. The train was full of elderly people in hiking attire coming from the south, the direction of Yoshino, yesterday. I guess there's no harm in waiting a little longer.

“Caroline Laughs and It's Raining All Day . . .”

It's cherry blossom season here in Japan so I went around town to-day with some friends to journey through the ephemeral clouds of pink.

One of my friends took a picture of me taking pictures. This was by a river in Gose.

I took some macro shots:

It was rainy and a bit chilly.

This was by a river in Asuka:

We also visited Abe-Monjuin Temple in Sakurai.

This stone tomb on the grounds dates from the 7th century:

These flowers are for the Year of the Tiger. Can you tell?

Twitter Sonnet #1568

Revolving plates were laden last with leeks.
The ham was burned to pull the juices out.
The heavy wolf had taxed the penguin beaks.
Insightful steam emerged from Jeffries' spout.
The message turned the pigeon back to ponds.
Reverting trees to paper caused a deal.
To cast a book, we turn a page to wands.
The picture text could make the sentence real.
The yarn's a waving line between the beats.
To summon beasts, extend the film a day.
The grill accepts a vast array of meats.
There's something else the fat would like to say.
The atmosphere was pink and flowed to earth.
A petal cloud engulfed the stony berth.

Eager Trees and Turtles

Spring isn't quite in full bloom here in Kashihara, Japan, but some of the trees have jumped the gun. Also, the annual Turtlepocalypse is here.

The really big birds are back, too. Here one soars over a freshly tilled rice field with Mount Unebi in the distance:

And now a conundrum:

The soccer ball, the orange, or the heron? You must choose.

Someone bade goodbye to winter by tying their scarf to a tree:

Finally, here's some Hiroshima style okanomiyaki I had for lunch a couple weeks ago with my friend, Rizu. Mine was squid, hers was pork.

The whole shiny black surface is a stovetop and the okanomiyaki cooks as long as you want it to.

Return of the Animals

Here's the first turtle of spring. The first one I've seen this year, anyway. This was about a week ago. A lot of animals are starting to show themselves.

Twitter Sonnet #1528

The lights on northern seas were bright alone.
Behind the rain, there danced a troupe of change.
The stars of ill repute have boiled bone.
The galley cake was crispy black and strange.
A cloud of cats contained a rain of claws.
The smi'ling will arose from fetid green.
Derangement cooks before the waiting jaws.
A deadly heat consumed the murder scene.
Bikini planets tie the side agreed.
The crossing voices glance above wall.
In ev'ry home a message dodged the feed.
A shiny spring returned the rusty fall.
The scrambled eggs returned to waiting shells.
A summer sound was snuffed submerging bells.

Clearly Spring

There are so many flowers around here right now. It seems like there are acres of wildflowers and then there are all kinds of carefully tended plots and planters everywhere.

And, of course, there are lots of turtles.

It's been getting a lot warmer, too.

I mostly see turtles in the many canals and rivers all over the place.

The mystery of abandoned shoes continues.

These are some of the carp streamers I'm also seeing all over the place lately:

There was a strong wind that day and a thunderstorm.

The streamers are decorations for Children's Day, which is May 5. It's part of Golden Week, a series of holidays in early May. To-day, May 3, is Constitution Day.

Twitter Sonnet #1448

The cactus curtain lifts before the horse.
A story drove the roving knife to drink.
The shifting sand diverts the sheriff's course.
A border town defines the crater's brink.
The pushing cloud induced the mill to grind.
In rigs of barley, scattered film was fixed.
The night restored a liquid dream to mind.
The leader danced, their swords were hardly mixed.
A shadow worm was lime and lemon work.
Authentic horses wait beyond the edge.
The money builds an angel's eye of murk.
Receptive flowers crowd along the hedge.
A million tombs beneath the flowers lie.
The ardent breeze inspires fish to fly.

Limited Petals

A turtle stoically endures a rain of sakura petals.

The crowds of turtles are starting to reappear in the rivers. This one is the biggest I've seen yet:

It's hard to get a sense of scale but he was about the size of a small cat. A little smaller than this suspicious fellow I saw yesterday:

He was watching this big crow who seemed a bit overcome by the beauty of spring.

Most of the cherry trees are no longer big fluffy pink things, they're already mixtures of pink and green.

I feel like they stayed pink further into April last year.

Here's something I've been working on lately:

My mother gave me this little mermaid when I was a kid back in the '80s. I'd had it packed in a box with books and DVDs--I have about 16 boxes of books which I really miss back in the U.S. I left three boxes with my grandmother in Tennessee and a couple weeks ago she sent me one for my birthday. The postal service labelled the box "books" which apparently makes packages move cheaply and quickly. Unfortunately, no-one knew this box marked "books" also had this little porcelain mermaid in it so when it arrived it was completely shattered. But since most of her vital parts were still in tact I went to work with some glue I bought for my boot soles. I glued her arms back on and worked out the jigsaw puzzle of her stone and coral base. There's still a big piece missing from the back that must have fallen out of the box but she looks good enough on my shelf, now with a few character building scars.

Twitter Sonnet #1440

The arm was numb so dropped the plastic cup.
But bev'rage spilled was well ignored in mind.
The dancing thoughts won't deign on bread to sup.
A heavy rain would clunk against the rind.
Reminding snakes of boxes, lawns evolve.
Propeller beams construct the rainy roof.
Before the candle hardened jams dissolve.
The stately dog proclaims a heavy "woof".
A border shift creates a new repast.
A dime was looking far beyond a cent.
The big imposter clerk was soon recast.
The strongest breath surpassed the need for mint.
The stoic turtles swarm the recent green.
Potential trees displace the healthy bean.

Trees and Mountains

I've been seeing cherry blossoms everywhere lately so I thought yesterday would be a good time to go back to Mount Yoshino. A lot of people had the same idea, I guess, because the train was packed, even though it was a Monday.

It was definitely a different experience to when I went last month. According to Wikipedia, there are more than 30,000 cherry trees in the area.

I went up the hillside path that ended in a bridge.

This was part of a street for tourists, filled with shops and restaurants.

Despite all the people, and the fact that it was around noon, the restaurants weren't very crowded. So I stopped in an udon shop and ordered the "Sakura Somen Set".

I should've taken a picture when it was all neatly together but I was so hungry I'd already dug in before it'd occurred to me to take a photo. Somen is very thin noodles served cold. Normally they're white but these had a very light pink colour, apparently flavoured with cherries or petals. They were pretty good, anyway. The yellow strips are egg and it also had green beans and mushrooms. The dark liquid in the cup is tsuyu, a dipping sauce served with somen or soba. Wrapped in the leaves are three pieces of sushi (salmon, tuna, and mackerel) and the cube is a kind of jelly dessert called anmitsu. It was a great lunch.

There are a number of temples and shrines on Mount Yoshino. The biggest is the Shugendo temple Kimpusen-ji.

And it's old.

Sure, it was rebuilt in 1592, making it a mere 429 years old. But parts of it are much older so that's still pretty good, right?

Seriously, though, I'm used to San Diego where something's ancient if it's 150 years old. So many of the structures around here astound me.

The nearby Buddhist temple had some particularly beautiful cherry blossoms.

Some of their branches were supported by thin bamboo poles.

I walked down a path that wound behind the Buddhist temple.

It turned into a steep stone stair I saw few extremely tired tourists coming to the top of. There were no crowds in this area.

This was only one bend of the stair. It's broken up periodically for small shrines.

I've noticed there are often small pieces of clothing on the statues.

These little foxes were up near the main temple.

I finally came to the bottom of the stairs.

I felt like I'd cheated, coming down the back. It seemed like a test of endurance for the few people I saw coming up the stairs.

I thought about going back up but I found an intriguing forest path and started walking. Very soon I was totally alone. It was very peaceful. I see now the road isn't even on Google maps.

I walked about ten minutes before the path came to this little area, which is where Google maps picks back up.

I still didn't see any people about until I spotted one guy on a motorcycle driving away.

I continued down the road figuring it would end up in civilisation again eventually. I saw lots and lots of trees.

Signs started warning me about falling trees and rocks.

It certainly looked like a tree falling was not an uncommon occurrence.

When I finally did start seeing buildings, it wasn't long before, unsurprisingly, I saw signs of lumber industry.

There were plenty of little homesteads, too. I felt a little like I'd found Japan's Twin Peaks.

Especially when I saw this table:

I finally ended up at Yoshino River.

I walked from there to Muda Station, skipping three train stations for my route home. According to Google, I walked around 4.6 kilometres, or around 2.8 miles. That's not counting my walk around Mount Yoshino itself. So I guess that was enough exercise for one day.

Twitter Sonnet #1437

Assorted snacks redeem the basket take.
We checked the box and cooked the curry right,
With flour, eggs, and salt, we often bake.
While sugar bides beyond the deadly night.
Computer shoes designed to run were slow.
The wire laces caught the edge of green.
Instruct the galley RAM to swiftly row.
There's something tiny stuck upon the screen.
A giant bed absorbed the extra room.
A growing face denied the novel prize.
Forgotten tabs would cause the cam to zoom.
The viewing distance changed instead of size.
The cherry mountains watched another fish.
The darker trees prepare a cooler dish.