"Sakura sakura / Noyama mo sato mo" or A Day In Yoshino

Sakura Sakura
Sakura sakura
Noyama mo sato mo
Miwatasu kagiri
Kasumi ka kumo ka
Asahi ni niou
Sakura sakura
Hana zakari

Sakura sakura
Yayoi no sora wa
Miwatasu kagiri
Kasumi ka kumo ka
Nioi zo izuru
Izaya izaya
Mini yu kan
--Old Japanese Folk Song

The weather and I continue to do battle. I’ve never been one to put much stock in weather reports and I found myself for the last two weeks realizing just why that is besides the unusual hairpieces one can almost always find perched on the head of local television weathermen. These last few weeks for the first time I really kept my eye on the weather forecasts. I had been planing a trip to Yoshino since reading that it was the place to be in Japan when the cherry blossoms bloom and with another nice long weekend ahead of me it was a good time for another sightseeing excursion. Originally I had not planed to be alone this time as some other area teachers, my head trainer, his family and Mog were all going to make the trip with me seeing as none of them had been to the mountain of blossoms before. This was before the weather came and took another huge dump on my plans. Because I cannot read the papers or understand what the television reports are saying, my information had to come from only other outlet: the wonderful internet. My two sources were a website called WeatherBug and the far more popular MSN and both of them were in extreme contradiction with one another. The forecasts changed sometimes hourly from bright sun to thundershowers with each site giving different predictions. Sort of makes you wonder if these guys have a board with weather conditions tacked up and they are just tossing darts to decide the forecast for that particular update. As the day of the proposed trip grew nearer the weather reports became increasingly worse. I could have predicted that without any fancy equipment, graphs or charts because I know what the meteorologists do not. The weather hates me, is out to do me in and if I have a day off you can place high odds that you are going to see gray skies above you. One site called for rain showers and the other said it would be partly cloudy and any way you sliced that pie it amounted to not very favorable conditions to be out walking around a mountain all day. The group pulled out of the trip one by one and I found myself again frustrated to be spending another weekend off indoors while the rains fell outside. Still, even with the knowledge that the weather was supposed to be less than desirable, I awoke early just in case. I mean, hey, those two websites couldn’t agree on anything and maybe there similar reports would cancel each other out and I’d find bright beaming sun when I pulled back the curtains. Well, I didn’t but I also didn’t find rain. What I saw above was just a gray sky, no clouds, it was as though everything above me had been placed into a black and white film. Blue had become gray but there was no rain. I stepped outside mindful of an Jehovah’s Witnesses hiding in the trashcan to find that it was actually quite warm out, the warmest it had been in a couple of weeks. I debated over my last piece of toast, final spoonful of jam and a cup of coffee (which I still have an abundance of...coffee, not cups...I actually only have one cup left having broken one by clumsily knocking it off my table…this reminds me that I will have to replace it at one point). I checked the websites again and it was not surprising to find more reports in conflict although both seemed to suggest that the skies would be clearing come mid-afternoon. Chew. Debate. Swig down a shot of coffee. Debate. Step outside again. Look skyward. Debate. Gaze at my camera in the corner. I came to the eventual conclusion that I could not let photography dictate my days and despite the poor conditions for pictures the day was not so terrible for walking about what with the warm weather and so I grabbed my maps, slung my camera over my shoulder just in case those skies did clear and popped my five yen into the ticket machine. Yoshino here I come.

Sakura is translated to mean Cherry Blossom and they are a national symbol of Japan much like the maple leaf is to Canada. Cherry Blossom trees are quite unique to this area of the world as over 305 varieties can be found in East Asia alone. Centuries ago the Japanese grafted and hybridized the trees which accounts for the differences as well as the ample amount of Sakura growing all across the country. Some of the more popular verities include the Shidarezakura (Wheeping Cherry), the Kanzan, the Yamazakura and Kikuzakura (Chrysanthemum Cherry). Each are characterized by different colors of blossoms usually being a soft pink but also could be white or yellow. The most adored of the Sakura varieties are the Somei Yoshino. White with just a touch of pink, this variety was developed in the 19th century. You are more likely to find this type of Sakura as they are in greater number then the other varieties. Each March all eyes turn to the Sakura front known here as the sakura zensen. The Japanese Meteorological Agency tracks the trees as they start to bud and then bloom starting first in Okinawa in January and reaching Tokyo at the end of March or beginning of April. These are the same folks who put out all the earthquake information and each are done with equal care and precision. Following the progress of the front as it moves from coast to coast is actually a very exciting process for the Japanese who turn in nightly for reports with some even getting front forecasts sent to their cell phones. This year there was cause for concern when reports started being issued that the blossom season would begin much earlier then usual due to an unusually warm winter. In Tokyo the Sakura of the Yasukuni Shrine are used as reference to signify the start of the season. The first blossom burst through their buds in mid-March. Climate change and the much heated debate over global warming are primary causes for the early blooming. In some of the larger cities people were packing snow around the trees to ward off early blooming while others were embracing a quicker start to the explosion of pink and white. This year was, however, it appeared that the predictions were inaccurate. Inaccuracy and Japan are two things that are seldom side by side. The Meteorological Agency issued an apologize for a gaff in their predicting an early start time as some flocked to parks and other popular viewing spots to find the trees still bearing only buds. A computer program was blamed for adding a few days to the start of the season but, nevertheless, the blossoms did bloom early and the festivals and hanami (flower viewing parties) got under way this week.


With a population of 10,500 Yoshino is a sleepy little mountain village, Twin Peaks of Japan, with quaint little homes snuggled within the folds of the mountain range. IT is the last stop on the South-bound train line. Elderly people tend their gardens, in the streets locals bow greetings to one another and small tea shops serve tasty cups of Green Tea to wash down moist pastries. The village doesn’t get much attention throughout the summer, autumn and winter months. A few notable temples are here as well as a handful of shrines which may garner some interest from small patches of day-trippers throughout the year but otherwise the locals go about their daily lives in peace and quiet walking dogs down the narrow streets, enjoying stunning mountain sunsets and living a relaxing existence far away from the concrete and neon cities, the subways and the crowds. That is until Spring comes around where those narrow Yoshino streets fill with so many tourists you’d think you were at a Tokyo street corner at the end of the work day. The tiny bed and breakfasts and hotels are fully booked months in advance. Shops and restaurant stock up early before the deluge descends. The village of Yoshino is very much a Yasgur’s Farm out here, a place where nothing really happens and then, boom, you have 500,000 people thunder on in and suddenly it’s Woodstock! It is not an era defining rock festival that attracts the crowds to Yoshino every Spring, however. The hundreds, dare I say thousands, flock here each April as this village in the mountains becomes the Mecca of the Sakura Season.






















Close to 30,000 cherry trees bloom here every April making Yoshino famous over the centuries as being the grandest spot in all of Japan for your hanami. Planted over 1,300 years ago, Mount Yoshino’s Sakura bloom for the entire month of April as they climb to reach the sun up the mountainside. The are is devided into four parts: the Oku Senbon (the interior or town area), the Shimo Senbob (the mountain base), the Naka Senbon (middle area) and the Kami Senbon (the top of the mountain). Each area has about 1000 trees of different veritiy to view with thousands more blooming in the villages surrounding area. One can track for themselves that Sakura front as it makes its way up the mountain with the lower area blooming near the end of March or early April and each section flowering one after the other shortly thereafter. The Kami Senbon area attracts the most attention as from here you have a sprawling view of Yoshino and the dazzling display of pinks, yellows and whites painting the landscape bellow you.


You are faced with two choices on how you will get up Mount Yoshino: the short way or the long way. The quick way up the mountainside is by the cable car which costs about Y350 and takes a few minutes giving you a sweeping view of the mountains, valley and, of course, the Sakura.



Yet, if you want to get up close and personal with the trees, near enough to smell the perfume aroma of the blossoms, you need to make the 35 minute climb on foot. Yes, folks, here I was again at a set of wooden steps trecking up another mountain, this one the more famous of the trio I’ve climbed in the last week and a half. I’m becoming a regular Edmund Hillary here.






Walking up the dirt path you get your first looks at the lower blossoms as well as some small shrines that are scattered about the mountainside. One in particular was tended to by an old couple who were presently sweeping around the shrine area and setting out a bowl full of oranges that could be considered great roadside hospitality to the tourists but, in actuality, was more God food.



This climb isn’t such a bad one with the path being well blazed of the eons of travelers and Sakura seekers and I made it to the top to find a beautiful view of the mountains and valley spreading out before me to once again conjure up images of Henry David Thoreau’s pages of over described nature.






I had been told about the large crowds that form here this time of year but at the bottom of the mountain I saw nobody. There were a few shops and sushi sellers and a friendly man that sold me a cold hotdog on a stick with mustard that could fry off your tastebuds but on a few drops of people instead of the ocean I’d braced myself to push through. And where was this village, anyway? There were no homes near the station. The empty tour buses at the foot of the mountain should have gave me some sign as what might be waiting above because once you reach the top it is a completely different world. You will first pass a group or two or picnicers and then you hear the crowds before you see them. Once you reach the top you are now part of the swarm. Here was the village and the shops. Everything was being sold here from statues of the Buddha to fish impaled on sticks which looked none too appetizing for me to take a taste. And you want cherry blossom memorabilia well you’ve got it: ice cream, wreaths, tea, photos, posters, paintings, shirts, it’s all here in Yoshino where everybody is trying to turn a buck off of their biggest star. The people who live here are really fortunate because they have an amazing view and I’d imagine that braving the noise and packed sidewalks a few weeks a year is well worth the location. The restaurants cater to this view as all of them on the strip have large windows lining the entire wall overlooking the valley and people were inside enjoying cups of tea on the tatami mats, shoes lined neatly in the entranceway, a welcome break from their climb. And oh, my friends, there were crowds, even with the bad weather the small streets of Yoshino were packed and hard to move around in. I am sure there is much to see walking about the village but if you were to pause in the rush and push you’d find yourself trampled by the Japanese as they hurry and scurry trying to find the best spot for their flower viewing party. Here is where being thin and nimble pays off as I was able to sidestep, avoid and practically slip through the legs of blossom enthusiasts totting lunches, bags of tacky Sakura themed merchandise or cones of cherry ice-cream, a village specialty.







Really, there is a kind of mania out here for cherry blossoms and it is hard to describe the madness that takes over the Japanese who have spent a long month awaiting this moment, track and planing as the front moves towards them. The Japanese are like kids on Christmas morning when it comes to seeing the Sakura in bloom. Their eyes grow large as saucers, they smile, laugh and break out the camera to take photos that rival even more over indulgence. I even saw one or two people dancing. The air is just tinged with excitement and it is as if suddenly everybody around you becomes a botanist. Some people fondle and molest the trees as though they were lovers, holding gingerly the blossoms and inspecting them, felling the flowers with the tenderness reserved for infants. That is until they stick their nose smack into the center of this things and take a large whiff. These blossoms are a huge part of the heritage for the Japanese. They signify to some a simpler time where the trees first grew in a land very different from their present days. Blossoms were painted onto attacking Japanese aircraft in World War II, flags are flown displaying the flower’s image and festivals are held all across the country each year to commemorate the start of the Sakura season. Everybody is looking for the perfect spot for their flowing viewing party. The prime choices, directly under the blossoms which rain lightly down with the faintest of breezes, are scooped up quickly. Most set up camp near the more fruitful trees and sit for lunch enjoying the view.


A dog belonging to one of the owners of a village tea shop get lots of attention today and I could not understand why so many people were crowded around this animal. It was very cute, yes, but why the large groupings waiting to pet it or the cell phones and cameras out snapping up shots? Was this a famous acting dog, the Lassie of Japan? It sure looked like paparazzi circled around. I wanted to ask somebody these questions but before I did somebody pointed to a sign near the dog which revealed the animal’s name. You guessed it, Sakura. Sakura the dog, the official canine of the 200 Sakura Yoshino Blossom Festival.


At the end of the main street you find one of those gates those of you have seen a few times in my photographs. It could only mean that nearby was another temple. This gate, I read on a nearing sign, was called the Kane-no-Torri and marked the entrance point to Kinpusenji Temple. The sign explains: Although the year of construction of this tori gate is unknown, allegedly the original gate was built using copper that remained after casting the Great Buddha at Todai-ji Temple in Nara. The tori gate makes the boundary between the secular world and sacred grounds. Going through the gate, followers of Shugendo determine to leave the secular world to commit themselves to ascetic religious training in the deep mountains in order to reach enlightenment.



Similar to Todai-ji in Nara, two foreboding statues greet you as you near the temple casting down frightful expressions. These figures are called the Kongo Rikishi.





Kinpusenji is an important site to the sect of Shugendo Buddhism which consists of mountain worshiping and many followers would make the pilgrimage here before continuing onward to ranges of Omine-san. Inside the temple is the second largest wooden Buddha in Japan inside the site’s Zao-do Hall. The temple has a few blossom trees scattered around but none were in full bloom and, besides, the white cast against the gray sky did not make for a sight which I am sure is much more alluring on a clear day.






Buddhism is popular in Yoshino with stone Buddha’s lining the mountain pathway, erected at smaller shrines and, of course, used by the tourist shops to rake in the bucks.






The weather had showed signs of clearing with one of those websites predictions looking to be accurate but soon took a bad turn it would keep driving down the rest of the day as the sky darkened even more and the wind became colder. I decided to head back home but in making my way back to the station I took an alternate course and discovered another temple. The path becomes muddier as you leave the road more traveled and hike away from the crowds and tourist shops through towering bamboo groves mixing with the cherry trees. Down this path are abandoned shops, dilapidated and creaking in the wind. I imagine these places are small markets on better days but today all that remained were the dirty cushions, toppled chairs and a few fake Sakura wreaths. I was far from the crowds now and alone on the mountain side hurrying along in hopes that those clouds didn’t start to spit down water and soon found another gate, another set of stone steps and Nyoirin-ji temple.

Constructed somewhere in the first half of the 900s, and was the site where the court of Emperor Go-Daigo would pray for guardianship of Japan. Go-Daigo was known as a renegade as he ruled through a period of rivalry between the Northern and Southern imperial courts. He fled Kyoto having been driven out by Ashikaga Takuji, the then shogun of the area. He choose Yoshino to set up the Southern Court and made Nyoirin-ji the official temple of his court. Here, on one of the wooden doors, you can find a poem written by Go-Daigo’s song in 1348. It reads translated:
I suspect I shall not be able to return
So I inscribe my name here
Among those who have died by the bow

The path back into town from Nyoirin-ji is a walk amongst the dead as dozens of small gravesites are strewn about the country and mountainside. Buckets and hoses are placed near the graves so they can be cleansed. To tell you the truth, with the cold and the gray these graves made for a depressing walk back to the station.




Closer to town you leave the graves behind and find the homes at the mountain base that I could not see from the station. These places are huge and I confused one of them to be yet another temple or shrine with it’s stone gate crossing to a backyard cherry tree.

At the station people looked just as upset as I over the weather dampening a longer stay and we all shuffled onto the train heading back home. Yet even with these conditions Yoshino was a beautiful place to visit. The blossom are not in full bloom yet, it is only an hour away and ten bucks is a small price to pay to be in the land of ancient Sakura, a Canuck roaming about the pinks and yellows seeking a spot for his hanami party of one and doing just one more thing uniquely Japanese.