Cherry Blossoms in my garden

Spring is coming ! Cherry blossoms in my garden shows flowering and brings Spring.
It is a kind of Cherry ｂlossoms but a little different type from those usually called "Sakura".
Most popular cherry blossoms in Japan is "Prunus Yedoensis: (Yoshino cherry)", and  another popular one is "Double Cherry Fｌower" (someone may imagine the item in Super Mario Games).


By the way, the cherry blossoms in my garden is called "Okka-may Sacklla"(prunus incamp), which is smaller than common Cherry blossoms and is flowering earlier.


The left picture is the cherry blossoms in my garden.

The left bottom is my tiny garden and cherry blossoms is almost the end of this picture.

The right bottom is the different angle of cherry blossoms.

So we will enjoy the sequence of Cherry blossoms from now in 4 weeks, starting with Okka-may sacklla, then Yoshino cherry and finally double cherry flower.

In a few weeks later, I will post that pictures of several kinds of cherry blossoms around my house and you will see how they are beautiful.

March 3rd, celebrating the Doll's Day by "chirashi zushi"

We celebrated March 3rd with Chirashi Zushi; it was a one of the traditions in which people have celebrated for Doll's Festival.
 Chirashi Zushi is a kind of sushi, which is vinegar rice with thin strips of egg, pieces of raw fish, vegetables arranged on top.

Chirashi Zushi

Not only Doll's Festival but also plum makes us feel like Spring is coming.

White Plum

the Dolls Festival

March 3 rd is the day of "the Doll's Festival", celebrating and praying for health and happiness of girls, especially daughters in a certain family.  If the family doesn't have any daughter, it doesn't celebrate that day; actually my parents never celebrated that day, because I have only an elder brother.

In Japanese, phonetically, it is pronounced as "hinah matz lee", meaning baby-bird festival.

The history of the Doll's Festival is unclear, it had begun at 1000 years ago, but it had got popular about 300 years ago.
Usually, people decorate dolls as seen below, and take special food (rice based cakes and snacks) and drink white rice wine.

In picture below, in my house we have only two dolls; male and female, it is very simple and there are only two which maybe a prince and a princess.
I think this type of decoration was made in the early beginning of  this festival, and it simply imitated the situation in which very young couples got married just like kids playing.

However, the picture in the left shows full set of dolls in the place where my mother is now staying at.  They look like gorgeous as if it was when festival got popular 300 years ago.

From this picture, we may learn how the ancient aristocracy was and what celebrities would have been as represented by the dolls.
In addition to those observations,  the families were hoping to a young bride and groom that a good marriage would bring happiness and their prosperity of a large family with many subordinates.

All dolls are made by tiny clothes precisely manufactured and hand crafted which shows the quality of Japanese technology even in ancient ages as well.

Natures in Bonsai

I mentioned in the previous post, "Some people try to describe their own views of the world through Bonsai, reflecting their philosophies."
Today, let me describe how those who plant Bonsai simulate the nature.

According to Wiki Pedia, it is called "Bonsai aesthetic" and it includes typical postures as below:

(http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai)

"Over centuries of practice, the Japanese bonsai aesthetic has encoded some important techniques and design guidelines. Like the aesthetic rules that govern, for example, Western common practice period music, bonsai's guidelines help practitioners work within an established tradition with some assurance of success. Simply following the guidelines alone will not guarantee a successful result. Nevertheless, these design rules can rarely be broken without reducing the impact of the bonsai specimen. Some key principles in bonsai aesthetics include:

• Miniaturization: By definition, a bonsai is a tree kept small enough to be container-grown while otherwise fostered to have a mature appearance.

• Proportion among elements: The most prized proportions mimic those of a full-grown tree as closely as possible. Small trees with large leaves or needles are out of proportion and are avoided, as is a thin trunk with thick branches.

• Asymmetry: Bonsai aesthetics discourage strict radial or bilateral symmetry in branch and root placement.

• No trace of the artist: The designer's touch must not be apparent to the viewer. If a branch is removed in shaping the tree, the scar will be concealed. Likewise, wiring should be removed or at least concealed when the bonsai is shown, and must leave no permanent marks on the branch or bark.^[91]

• Poignancy: Many of the formal rules of bonsai help the grower create a tree that expresses Wabi-sabi, or portrays an aspect of mono no aware."

So now it is time to reveal my implication of my Bonsai in two pots;

first, regarding to two moss balls, we can see that a pine tree and a flower look like the same height.  What do you think of this?

In our real world, a tree should be taller than flowers, but in the early beginning of growth, everything starts small, and it may be vulnerable as well.  If we don't know how tall pine tree is, we recognize pine tree is as small as flowers.  What we can see at that specific moment, it is only a reflection of total reality.

Second, a flower in the square pot is a miniature of a flower on the rocks.  Someday, I will plant other flowers and trees, so that it doesn't feel lonely.

Bonsai in my house

Bonsai is a Japanese art with tiny trees, moss and flowers on the tray.

"Bon"refers to "tray", "sai" refers to "planting" in English.

Pine tree is mainly decorated nicely and it should be expensive.

Please read more information about Bonsai,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai.

According to Wikipedia, "The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation (for the viewer) and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity (for the grower).  By contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food, for medicine, or for creating landscapes. Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more small trees growing in a container."

Some people try to describe their own views of the world through Bonsai, reflecting their philosophies.  In my case, what is the implications of two pots?

National Foundation Day or the Day of National Foundation

February 11th is celebrated as the Day of National Foundation.
The ancient mythology told that the Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor of Japan, was ascended to throne on February 11th.
Constitution of the Empire of Japan (Meiji Constitution) was promulgated on this day in 1889.

Before the end of World War 2, February 11th was called "Empire Day", when the people were awe inspired and celebrated the Empire.

After World War2, in 1948, the Empire Day was dismissed, but some congressmen tried to legislate to set "National Finundation Day" back.
While 18 years to end up the arguments, in 1966, "the Day of National Foundation " has been passed through Congress.
Thesedays, not so many people mind calling National Foundation day, but it used to have a large difference from the Day of National Foundation.

If we say "National Foundation Day", it implies the founder, and this is related to the myth of the ancient throne.


Please click here to see the pictures googled in the words "Foundation Day".

The Tokyo Tower

January 31st is my wife's birthday and January 9th is mine.
My second son cerebrated us to have lunch at the nice French restaurant he recommended.

After lunch, we went to the Tokyo Tower (height: 333m), constructed in October, 1958 for broadcasting Radio and TV waves, but it has ended up its all transmissions in 2013, and the Tokyo Skytree (height: 634m) has replaced with transmissions since 2013.