Let me talk about Heian Shrine today.
Heian Shrine is Shinto shrine (Shinto is Japanese original religion) was built in 1895 for the 1,100th anniversary of the establishment of Kyoto. So it's a pretty new shrine in Kyoto. Its main building is designed to imitate the main office of the original Kyoto Imperial Palace built in 8th century on a three-fourth scale.
The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Kanmu (the 50th) and Emperor Kōmei (121st). The former moved the capital to Kyoto, and the latter was the last emperor who lived in Kyoto as his son Emperor Meiji moved the capital to Tokyo.
Well, maybe it's too much explanation... I shall talk about the garden. Heian Shrine has a gorgeous garden famous for weeping cherry trees behind the main building.
Weeping cherries @Heian shrine are known for their bright colour.
This is a colour of weeping cherry we normally think of.
You can see the colour of flowers @Heian Shrine is much stronger.
The garden of full of pink, and full of people in this season.
It's said that there are more than 600 hundred kinds of cherry trees in Japan.
The number is growing each year due to breed improvement & find of new breeds.
Here you find about 10 kinds of different cherries including green cherry. :D
'Cherry flower & water' are our favorite scenery. We never get bored of seeing cherry blossoms in blooms, though we see them every year.
4 comments:
Japan is very beautiful, and your blog makes it sound more interesting.
thank you for showing the ohanami at Heian. i did not go there this year. i did see many different sakura at Zohekyoku in Osaka and many many many many people.
and thank you for sharing some the history of Heian, the weeping cherry trees are so beautiful.
i hope i will never forget the beauty and the impermanence of the sakura. to me, to enjoy ohanami in Japan is more than just seeing cherry blossoms . . . it is to enjoy Life.
♣Celina
Thank you for saying that our country, Japan is beautiful!!
And I'm so happy you enjoy my blog. Please visit here again. ;D
♣Tonykaku san
I think what you said is the original idea & meaning of hanami which many Japanese people have forgotten.
Sakura's short-lived beauty reminded ancient Japanese people of human lives. If you know the word 'Ichigo Ichie' directly meaning 'meeting only once in a lifetime' (can be translated 'Treasure every encounter, for it will never recur'), you may agree that hanami is a way of our appreciation for beauty of cherries.
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