Sakura photo blitz begins


14 April 2012


You'd stop to look too.
























Wouldn't you?





















You'd look closer.

























And look up...
















Through a lens...






















Or from the window of a passing car.












You might see the cherry blossom petals in the river...


















...even if you were with someone you found it hard to look away from.





No matter how many times you'd seen the Takano river in full bloom, you'd still look.

Last lot for the year


14th May 2011


I promised a friend that I'd post pictures of the sakura by the river once it bloomed. It's a little late but here they are.

















































































There was a young man holding a guitar and a pencil. He seemed to be writing a song.

Saturday at a shrine


17th April 2011





I've learned enough about Heian Jingu to expect crowds there in sakura season. The maiko performance in the shrine courtyard was a surprise though.


















Another unexpected star.







The main attraction.

















The wind steals from the trees...





...and leaves the loot in the ponds.





A shot I can never resist taking. This time though, there were bits of pink in the water's sky.












For this period, special sakura omikuji. The trees where people had tied their pink fortune slips looked like cherry blossom trees from a distance.

South of the shrine was a little park filled with kids running about, making mud balls and throwing stuff around. There was also this.

Whatever you can find


11th April 2011


I knew the light wouldn't be good - it was too late and cloudy - but I went down to Kiyamachi-dori anyway.



When I got there, a man wearing a jacket with the word "impulse" cut in front of me.





A little canal called Takasegawa runs along Kiyamachi-dori. In the days before trains, goods would be ferried along the canal as far as Osaka.




With the sakura in bloom, interesting buildings turn glamorous.




Cherry blossoms and adult beverages: an ancient combination.






The light was a little better at the Kamogawa, which runs parallel to the Takasegawa.




Though it was a weekday, there were people having flower-viewing parties. (Shoes aren't usually left on the mat but it was a windy day.)




Flower-viewing party for one. Easier to organise.




Spot the sparrow!




Wild geese - the stone kind - flying over the river.




The light faded fast and when it was gone, I went to Nijo castle.




For the light-up.

Spring, a little late


30th March 2011


A friend from overseas is spending a week here.

Before leaving Hong Kong, she went through the media reports on Japan, sifted the facts out of the scare-mongering and decided that much of the reaction was over-reaction.

I think this is why we are friends.

So she is here now and we spent time yesterday with the people and trees of Kyoto at the imperial palace park.




Early sakura.




Early sakura mania.




Ready for the close-up.




Sakura mania en famille.




Ume. I think.






A pair of peach flowers.




















Old life together.



















New life together.

Just the tip of the photo iceberg


7th December 2010




Eikando, a temple in the eastern hills of Kyoto. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the trees so bright they did not seem real.




A more unusual variety of the Japanese maple. At least, I think it's a Japanese maple.



The more usual kind of maple. The colouring, though, isn't.



Huge carp. (Please use leaves in pond as scale reference.)



Stopping for tea and dumplings. On the sign advertising the dumplings, the first character of dango is written with a circle rather than the usual rectangle.














The great gate of the Nanzen-ji temple complex. Another popular spot for viewing autumn leaves.




Jojakko-ji, a temple on the other side of the city. I got there a little past the peak so most of the leaves were on the ground. But that made it easier to see things like this pagoda...



...and these persimmons the size of grapes. Besides, fallen leaves make for a good picture too.






Though not perhaps for the person who has to sweep them up.



































Outside Anraku-ji, a little temple in the Higashiyama area, not far from Nanzen-ji.






Red, orange, yellow and green - the better part of a rainbow - in the same tree.













As you wait for a shot of the main gate without people in it, you can feel yourself ageing. But it's nothing some cake won't cure.