Monday, April 27, 2009

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival

Cherry Blossom or "sakura" in Japanese




Another shot of sakura





Hirosaki Castle



Another view of Hirosaki Castle



Entrance gate




Another entrance gate





Bridge







Picnic at the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival


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Last Saturday, April 25 we went to Hirosaki Sakura Matsuri or Cherry Blossom Festival, it's about 2 hour- drive from Misawa. It was gloomy and cold last Saturday, and it drizzled around 3pm right after we left the park. By the way last Sunday, it snowed in Misawa, which covered the entire rice field, in front of our house (weird huh??).
The Cherry Blossom Festival is being held every spring in different places in Japan but in Hirosaki it usually starts around last week of April until first week of May but it really depends on the forecast report from Japan Metereological Agency.
Hirosaki park is decorated with 2,600 cherry trees of about 50 different varieties. It is one of the best cherry blossom-viewing spots in Tohoku region in Japan. Within the park is the famous landmark, Hirosaki Castle.
Once cherry blossoms open up, they usually become in full bloom within 10 days. The blooming period of cherry blossoms is about 5-12 days, depending on the kind of cherry trees and the weather.

12 comments:

The Pink Birdhouse said...

Hi! i want to thank you soooo much for sharing these wonderful photos with us. I have heard so much about the cherry blossom viewing festivals and would some day love to travel with my husband there to Japan to see it all for myself. It is just as beautiful as I have heard it was! Through your photos I felt as if I was there myself for a short time, seeing the trees with their lovely blossoms, experiencing it for real. a lovely post!! thank you. Debby

Lei said...

How pretty! It felt like I went to see the sakura trees too!!.... OH WAIT! I was there with youuuu *;) Hehe.

I love sakuras!! They're so colorful and makes you feel like "spring is here" (even though the weather sucked... lol)

Nice shots po :]

Jhay said...

yes, beautiful pictures!! you got some great shots even though it was so crowded ;-) (and cloudy)

love, Jhay

GingerV said...

the cherry blossoms along the canal are really beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Wow, these are amazing photos! The blossoms are just gorgeous. Well done!

No sunbathing for me either. :) I don't mind not being able to tan, I just want to be able to be outside without getting my sun rash! LOL!

Again, these photos are really good!

Unknown said...

Wow, some great shots of the garden you have here!

Anonymous said...

These are just very nice photographs and the people are all well behaved and having a good time. I really enjoyed all of the photos. I was in Japan 1953 - 1956 mostly at Sendai-shi.

Reena said...

kakainggit naman. :) i want to see cherry blossoms too. :) ang bilis pala ng life span nila. what happens after their blooming period? do they just fall?

Missy said...

debby- thanks you like my photos, actually it's my first time to see cherry blossom festival, it's really amazing to see thousands of cherry blossom trees

lei- thanks for dropping by :-) you should post cherry blossom festival too in your blog

jhay- thanks, it's a little bit cloudy though but I tried to take photos and pick which are the best :-)

gingerV, Jen and Luke- thanks for visiting my blog again

Abe- I've been to Sendai too (finally) and it's really a city unlike here in Misawa, thanks for drooping by

Reena- it's my first time to see sakura or cherry blossom and I saw a lot of them are falling now :-( di ko lang alam kung what will happen after that, it looks like the leaves are coming out now and the trees are turning to green, I will take some photos pag wala ng flowers

Joy said...

No matter how lovely the blossom here is, I still think nothing beats the one in Japanese. Truly beautiful. Great shots, Alice!

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caryn said...

hey, i went there once, but that was in autumn ;-) nice shots! ;-)

Missy said...

Joy- thanks you like my photos :-)

Caryn- thanks, that's my first time in Hirosaki and it was cloudy