Once a year, heaven appears in Nara Park.

Two years ago, I heard a conversation of two men. When I was taking photos in Nara Park, two men near me were talking about Sakura - cherry blossoms.  Both of them were in their mid-30s. One of them lived in Nara and guided his friend around the park. He said, "Cherry blossoms here are beautiful. However, there are many places where more beautiful cherry blossoms are. But, look at deer eating fallen petals of Sakura.  This place turns into Heaven! " His friend quietly nodded saying, " Yes, yes. How true it is!"

 

 

I had not been able to write blogs nor to go out to take photos for a long time. Last spring, my husband got cancer. After a surgical operation, he had complications. It took him long time to recover.  Now,  he is slowly getting better.  My blog friends, I thank you  a lot for your warm concerns about me. I was very very glad, but I was too exhausted to do anything.  The above is my first photo taken in Nara Park after a year.  Life is beautiful, isn't it!!

Mysterious Field and Sakura

From the morning mist, the deer appear one by one. Through  the fine veils of the dim sun light,  everything looks soft. Here, the Sakura blossoms (cherry blossoms) are passing the last stage.  If one more wind blows, all petals will fall immediately.   I love Sakura in all phases, but now how delicate and subtle grace they show. 

This spacious grass field , which is part of Kasuga Grand Shrine precincts, is called "Tobihino, 飛火野- Flying Fire Field". The name is derived from a myth .

When Nara became the Capital of Japan in 710, the new Capital needed a strong protection. So, the most powerful god was invited to protect Nara. He came from Kashima Shrine in Ibaraki near Tokyo, travelling on the back of a white deer.  The god arrived in Nara at night. To welcome him and light the way, one deity belched fires. But the fires continued to roll over the field  and never went out. The emperor ordered  field guards to take care of the fires. Another theory says that smoke signals were made here in the 8th century. 

That's why the field is called "Flying Fire Field".

The field is also the place where noble people used to take a walk and enjoy picking up spring grasses in Nara Period (710 - 784). Did they see the scene which I see now? Did they see deer appearing like this?

 I feel time has  flown slowly here since ancient times.

They are dressed in the 8th century costumes of noble people.

 (My related blog  Once Upon a Time, My Town Nara)

Tobihino field just before sunset

In May, here becomes the paradise of wild wisteria flowers.

 This tree is a guardian of Tobihino field. Its trunk is completely hollow, but the tree is  growing and thriving.  

 (My related blog, Amazing Power of Trees)

 There is another mysterious story about Tobihino field in Noh play. 

A travelling priest finds a pond and gets interested in it. He asks an elderly field guard  the name of the pond. The guard answers it is called "野守の鏡、the mirror of a field guard". Because field guards use the pond as a mirror. He continues and says  that  this pond has a special power. When the emperor lost his hawk during hunting, this pond told the location of the hawk in its reflections.  At night the guard transforms himself into a fierce deity and appears with a magical mirror in front of the priest. The deity says that his mirror is the real mirror of a field guard. He shows the priest everything from the hell to the heaven in the reflections of the mirror. When the deity stamps his feet,  the ground is split in two. Inside the ground, the path to the hell appears. The deity climbs down the path and disappears. This story is set in Tobihino field.

Be careful if you find a strange path in Tobihino field. The path might lead you to the hell.

The fierce deity with a magical mirro in Noh play..

If there is a so-called power spot in Kasuga Grand Shrine, I guess it must be somewhere in Tobihino field. So whenever  I come here, I keep a compass. Because  I believe the compass will tell me any change of the magnetic field and pinpoint the power spot. Unfortunately,  my compass has never told me any clue so far.

Sakura, Sakura

Asahi newspaper said  in VOX POPULI two years ago, 

 "In romantic relations, it is said that when your are kept waiting by another person, you develop stronger feelings for that  person. Apparently, this year's spring goddess is playing with our motions." 

How true it is!! This spring also, it seems that Spring Goddess kept us waiting and playing  hide-and-seek with us. At last, Sakura or cherry blossoms started to bloom. One day pastel pink mists and clouds appeared here and there like mirage, and gave us a  supreme surprise. But,  but already they started  to flutter. 

Sakura blossoms in the early stage look like shy girls at early adolescence.

Sakura have been long loved by people in Japan. Sakura bloom and fall. And we love from the beginning (even before the beginning)  to the end, every phase of Sakura blossoms. We see beauty in those blooming Sakura, and admire scattering Sakura as 花吹雪‐flower blizzard. Fallen petals on the water are appreciated as 花筏‐flower raft.Transience of nature,  transience of our life.
 I visited Sakura in Nara one rainy day. Maybe, you do not like to go out in a rainy day, especially when you want to take photos. Lights are so weak that scenery seems dim and hazy. But, how serene  the air is  and how comfortably the  sounds are absorbed by rain drops!

Great Buddha Hall of Todai-ji Temple. The Hall is the largest wooden structure in the world.

The footsteps and conversation sound quietly.

 I feel everything so peaceful.  My lens has a rain drop in the centre.

Sakura blossoms near me look more vivid in a rainy day, but a scenery

far away looks hazy. Many petals are fluttering with rain drops.

People are listening to a tour guide at the approach to Great Buddha Hall. 

 Sakura trees are welcoming and listening together with them.

Weeping cherry tree.

In front of Great Buddha Hall there is a huge space surrounded with  many different types of Sakura.

They are in  bloom.

Under Great South Gate, the main entrance gate to Todai-ji Temple,  

the deer take shelter sometimes and go out to welcome the visitors..

The mist is rising and laying among mountains. There are small dots on the grass field.
They are birds. In a spring rain, both deer and birds are resting together.
In Nara Park, Sakura are here and there.

Here is Kasuga Grand Shrine. Kasuga means Spring Day. The shrine has been a strong guardian deity of Nara since it became the capital of Japan in 710.

weeping cherry tree

Part of the corridors of the shrine.

In Kasuga Grand Shrine, there are about 3000 lanterns;  two thousands stone lanterns

and 1000 metal lanterns. But, nobody knows exactly  how many lanterns there are.

So, it is believed that if you can count the exact number of the lanterns at night,

you are promised to be very rich.

One rain and one wind accelerate Sakura falling.

The deer are eating Sakura.

My blogs about Sakura

Sakura・・・

Farewell Sakura

Nothing lasts forerever, Sakura

We know little about Sakura

Farewell Sakura

Early sunset in Nara Park.

Sakura(cherry blossoms) season  almost comes to an end, leaving me many precious memories.  During the Sakura season, people would  take a journey to visit Sakura viewing spots one by one.  It seemed to me as if they made a Sakura pilgrimage to leave burdens of their mind at Sakura.

This is three hundred years old  weeping cherry tree in Nara, which is named "Matabe"  after a  notable Samurai warrior. This magnificent cherry tree is bending its body and reaching out for the people.  Its branches look like saving hands of one-thousand-handed Kannon Bodhisattva, Buddhist embodiment of mercy and compassion.   

Villagers planted peach trees and rape blossoms around the tree

so that it would not be lonely.

Kiyomizu-dera Temple is one of the  most popular Sakura viewing spots in Kyoto. The main hall of the temple is famous for its platform projecting over the cliff. The hall is dedicated to the eleven-faced Kannon Bodhisattva. As the platform is surrounded by the lit-up Sakura , it seems as if it is floating  in the vast pink clouds.  But personally I prefer viewing Sakura in the natural light to lit-up ones.

 I especially love to view Sakura in early sunset. Against soft sunlight, the  petals of Sakura start to twinkle and show elegant  luster. The sunset at this time of the year is gently graceful.

The deer in Nara Park are waiting for this special time.  Once a year they eat petals of Sakura. Usually the deer eat grass, leaves or acorns which are rather hard. So soft and fragrant petals of Sakura are spring delicacy for them. The whitish pink carpets of the petals cover gently rolling hills where the deer are roaming,

The petals are on the nose. This adorable scenery  pleasures to the eye.

 

Both famous and unknown Sakura are beautiful.  No difference. People  label them. 

Nara-no-Yae-Zakura (eight-petaled Sakua) which are indigenous in Nara will be soon in full bloom. They are the last Sakura flowers to bloom in Nara. They are designated as the symbol flower of Nara city and prefecture.

Emblem of Nara city

The deer are going home and I also feel like going home.

This year for me Sakura trees look like Kannon Bodhisattva, Buddhist deity of compassion and mercy. Kannon transforms himself into 33 manifestations to save people in suffering. Maybe Sakura has been one of 33 manifestations.  Just we didn't know it.

Thank you Sakura and Farewell Sakura.!!

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Nothing Lasts Forever, Sakura・・・・

It is said there are more than 300 or even 400 different varieties of Sakura or cherry trees in Japan.  Some flowers of them have already fallen and others have just started to bloom. Petals of Sakura floating in water are admired as 花筏-flower raft. The flower rafts and a reflection of Sakura are on a pond.

While time passing, the reflection is changing and the flower rafts look different.

The flower rafts also tell us the transience of time -  nothing lasts forever. 

This is an aesthetic beauty made by the cooperation of light and Sakura.

Here is my secret place where scarcely people visit to view Sakura,

so I monopolize this view!!.

 

                                                   

Sakura・・・・・

Sakura or cherry blossoms have been long loved by people in Japan. Sakura bloom and fall. And they love from the beginning (even before the beginning)  to the end, every phase of Sakura. They see beauty in those blooming Sakura, and admire scattering Sakura as 花吹雪‐flower blizzard. Fallen petals on the water are appreciated as 花筏‐flower raft.

A deer is quietly eating petals of Sakura.

Sakura has been synonymous with the word "flower". But at first for a few centuries around the 8th,  noble people loved Ume or Japanese plum blossoms, more than Sakura. While Sakura are native plants in Japan,  Ume were  introduced from China with the latest Chinese culture. So emperors or people of high rank loved Ume as part of the then modern culture. Ume represented  "flower" and were mentioned about in  poems of old more than Sakura.   

white Ume blossoms

In olden days Sakura were considered as the messengers sent by the deity of mountains to let farmers know the time of seeding rice. When the farmers saw Sakura start to bloom, they would prepare for seeding.

Sakura have mysterious power. They give people energy, spreading  merry and  happy spree.The spree is so contagious that the ripples of joy pervade from person to person. They enjoy cherry-blossom viewing.

A boy is dancing on a stump. Sakura are quiet audience.

The season of Sakura coincides with the period of new starts in Japan. School, companies, fiscal year and more start in April. Children with shinny school bags, students in new school uniforms and fresh recruits in brand-new suits are proudly smiling in the photos where Sakura are watching them warmly. Thus Sakura add one more unforgettable happy memory to them.

                                                junior high school students in black school uniform

The life span of cherry flowers is very short, so people feel the transience of life in them - there is nothing lasts forever. But diffferent varieties of Sakura are blooming one by one in one month. When strong winds blow, people worry about Sakura if the winds blow away petals of Sakura. When it rains, people care about Sakura and spend restless spring days.

The famous poet  in the 9th century, 在原業平, Ariwara-no-Narihira, mentioned this poem .

世の中に  たえて櫻の  なかりせば  春の心は  のどけからまし

If there were no Sakura in this world,

how peaceful and tranquil my heart would be in spring.

May this energy of Sakura reach the people in Tohoku.

  

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