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.

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.

Early Yoshino

Happy Birthday, Emperor Naruhito. For you, most people here in Japan had the day off from work. On impulse, I took the train down to Mount Yoshino.

It was a little silly for me to go now. Yoshino is a famous destination for tourists in autumn and spring, for red foliage in the former and cherry blossoms in the latter.

A few blossoms are just starting to show but mostly all the branches are still dead and grey.

It was late afternoon, though, so there were plenty of interesting shadows.

And not many people. I saw one mother trying to entertain her bored little boy next to the closed off ropeway car, telling him the operator must be enjoying the day off, too.

I got a few little souvenirs--a little wooden spoon for my loose leaf tea, some masking tape, and some azuki bean cakes. It was a pleasant afternoon.

Hey, there's the rabbit!