Miyako Odori

Besides cherry blossoms, April in Kyoto is also synonymous with the Miyako Odori at the Gion Kaburenjo Theatre. This popular event is a spring dance performance by geiko and maiko. Some of the other geisha districts in town (Pontocho, Kamishichiken, Miyagawacho) have similar spring dance events, but none are as big as Gion's.

This year's Miyako Odori was based on the Tale of Genji (源氏物語, Genji Monogatari) because 2008 marks the 1000th anniversary of this classic novel.

We took our college friend, Hunter, to see this breathtaking performance. To make sure that he overdosed on Japanese culture, we got tickets which included a tea ceremony that was prepared and served by geisha! The tea ceremony wasn't as formal or as intimate as the ones I've had in my class, but having a geisha involved was really cool. We also got to keep the plates that our sweets were served on as a special souvenir.

The show had eight scenes, each with beautiful new scenery and colorful costumes. Along the sides of the stage were musicians singing and playing the shamisen, flute and drums.

An amusing advertisement about this event claimed that "you might feel like you have come out of a dream when the show is over. It will surely become one of your most spectacular memories of Japan!" We ruthlessly mocked this ad. But, in the end, it turned out to be right.

Pretty Trees with a Cherry on Top

The last two weeks have been filled with a ridiculous amount of hanami. I have seen more cherry blossoms than you can imagine. And, it's not quite over yet. I'll be searching out the late blooming trees in the region this coming week so that I can show them to my friend who is about to visit Kyoto. My photos don't do justice. I can't seem to capture the zen-like relaxation that you feel when surrounded by blossoms in mankai. But, trust me. It's chill.

Here is a brief list of the best places I've seen cherry blossoms this month.

KYOTO
Tetsugaku no michi (Path of Philosophy)
Okazaki Canal
Heian Jingu Garden
Takasegawa Canal
Kamogawa River
Arashiyama (Nakanoshima Park)
Maruyama Koen
Kyoto Imperial Palace Grounds

OTHER NEARBY CITIES
Uji River
Byodoin Temple in Uji
Saidaiji Temple in Nara
Osaka Castle (Nishinomaru Garden, Grounds, Park by the Moat)
Ookawa River in Osaka

Takasegawa Canal Sakura Festival

On Saturday, I volunteered at the Takasegawa Canal Sakura Festival on Kiyamachi Street. The festival was held by the Old Rissei School machi-zukuri (~Neighborhood Planning Committee) and some very friendly people that I met on Facebook.

The idea of the event seemed to be two-fold: informing people about the history and significance of the Takasegawa River/Canal, and (of course) enjoying the cherry blossoms.

The part of the festival that I was helping with was a boat ride in the canal under the sakura blossoms. Before the event began, several of the volunteers assembled a takase boat and jury-rigged the canal to increase its waterlevel in the area of the boat ride.

A kimono-clad band of five girls helped to lure visitors. Then, we offered rides on the boat to passers-by and gave them information and a quiz about the canal. People seemed to have a really good time. Two maiko even stopped by to see what was going on!

While "volunteer patrolling", I was given the special task to look for foreign tourists and to give them the information sheet about the canal so that they could "more thoroughly enjoy their experience" in the area. This was uneventful as a surprisingly low number of English speaking people passed by the canal. However, I did meet one fun couple from Issaquah, WA who were filming a series about Japan for a PBS show called Discoveries Asia. They shot a quick interview with me about the canal, the event I was volunteering for and why I was in Japan. It will probably end up on the cutting room floor, but there is a small chance that I could be on their show. How amusing!

Some other things I learned are that the Takase boats (Takasebune) are well-known from the title of a novel by Ogai Mori. These boats were used on the canal and as such, the name of the canal came from the name of the boats. There is also an old popular song called Takasebune that we were playing on a CD all day. Even though it was a beautiful song, by the end of the day I was so tired of hearing it.

It was a fun experience to try volunteering at this festival, especially since all of the event planners and all of the other volunteers were Japanese. A few of them spoke English, but even so, the day was a good chance to test my Japanese skills. I still have a long way to go, but as long as I kept my sentences simple, people seemed to understand what I was saying. Sugoi desu ne!

Under Kyoto's Sakura Spell

This time of year in Japan is MAGICAL. It's so hard to pay attention to anything these days besides the cherry blossoms. Kyoto has me completely under its sakura spell.

The Cherry Blossoms are in mankai (peak/full bloom) and it seems that on every street in Kyoto you're bound to glimpse a sprinkling (or more!) of these beautiful flowers among the other trees. Even more amazing is that many parks and pathways, especially those lining the Kamogawa river and the canals, are completely lined with sakura trees. One such example is the Tetsugaku no Michi (Philosopher's Path) just south of our house. These pictures were taken along the Tetsugaku no Michi and Honen-in Temple just as the first blooms were appearing last week.

For the sadly short sakura season, we along with thousands of other Kyoto-ites are enjoying hanami and yozakura (hanami at night) non-stop. This means I'm running all over the Kansai region on foot, by bike, by bus and by train to view the cherry blossoms in many of the most popular/gorgeous spots. Expect more photos and updates assuming that I can break myself away from the beauty and peacefulness around us to blog again.