Today's Feature Post will center around Senshu-koen, the large park located just past the JR Station in Akita-shi (Akita city) (about a five minute walk). I visited Senshu-koen on two occasions; the first on my first trip to Akita-shi a few weeks ago, and then again just this past weekend for the Hanami Matsuri (cherry-blossom viewing festival). The park itself is quite large, and covers the historic grounds of an ancient castle. The castle is mostly gone now, with only a few reconstructed buildings including a gate house and guardhouse. More interesting to me were the three Shinto shrines located here. Additionally, there are a few small art museums on location, as well as a tea house (for sado, tea ceremony) and a public library.
The park is very large, and somewhat hilly so it was a minor work-out to get around. But there were very pleasant courtyards and pavilions. It's a shame the park is somewhat far from campus (I have to take a bus and train, but all in all it's only thirty minutes travel time), but it is definitely a nice place to visit on the weekends. With the weather as nice as it is right now, I look forward to taking strolls in the park with my friends in the upcoming weekends.
Before getting too far ahead of myself, here is the link to the pictures I took on my first trip to Senshu-koen. You will see some monuments which I unfortunately cannot translate for you, but they are incredibly beautiful nonetheless, some made of stone and others of wood. At this point in time, the cherry blossoms (sakura) had not yet begun to bloom, so many trees were bare. This afforded pretty clear views of some of the buildings, including the Gate House and Guard House. Below I will post some pictures of the park; please follow the above link (also on the sidebar "Senshu-koen") for the complete collection:
A stone monument.
A magnificent wooden monument.
A friend of mine told me that this monument is dedicated to those died in the firefighting profession.
A pond.
The gate house from below the hill.
The gate house again, this time straight on.Osumi-yagura "Tower of Former Kubota Castle"
This former guard tower is now reconstructed as a small museum. It costs 100 yen (about a dollar) to get in, and there is a lot of information about the historic castle grounds. Below are a few pictures of the interior of the tower-museum.
A model of the historic castle grounds. The small black sticks are names for the different buildings.
Some artifacts from the old building, including shingles and other architecture.
A display showcasing a small army procession.
There were also some videos and other displays, including a time line of the Castle's history, but everything was in Japanese so I didn't learn much, unfortunately. However, on the fourth (top) floor of the tower, there was a spectacular view of Akita-shi, which I will share with you below:
There were also, as I mentioned before, three Shinto shrines on sight. You can see the pictures in the albums. However, I will make a dedicated feature article solely on Shinto in the near future, so I am going to hold off on saying anything about it for right now. At this point, just enjoy the pictures. This one's my favorite:
There were also, as I mentioned before, three Shinto shrines on sight. You can see the pictures in the albums. However, I will make a dedicated feature article solely on Shinto in the near future, so I am going to hold off on saying anything about it for right now. At this point, just enjoy the pictures. This one's my favorite:
Sakura, Hanami, Matsuri
Before I share with you my pictures of the park during the festival this past Sunday, I wanted to briefly talk about the three terms I have written above. I am in no way an expert in Japanese culture or history, so please take the following as a very rough explanation.
Sakura is the Japanese word for "cherry blossom." Sakura is one of the many things that is associated with Japan (along with the samurai and other things). The Japanese cherry trees are unique in that they have a very short blooming period; often the flowers last only a week before falling and giving rise to fruit. In addition, sakura are very beautiful and delicate. In the Japanese mind, sakura is often associated with the fragility and ephemeral beauty of life itself. They also figure prominently in bushido ethos as the samurai were generally prone to very short life-spans indeed.
Because sakura bloom for such a short time, it is a favorite past time of all Japanese to take time to view these beautiful blossoms and contemplate the nature of living and dying. This past time of viewing cherry blossoms is called hanami. What is interesting about sakura is that because Japan spans a few latitudes across the globe, there is a wave effect of sakura blooming in the south and moving northwards as those colder regions warm up. By the time that Akita sakura began blooming, Tokyo's sakura were well past their time. It is possible to enjoy hanami on numerous occasions if you follow the blossoming season northwards. In fact, many of my friends who stayed in Tokyo before heading to Akita did just that. I will be visiting Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan in just a week, so I may get a chance to experience hanami for a second time.
Finally, matsuri means "festival" in Japanese. The Senshu-koen Hanami Matsuri is a minor festival, with a collection of food stalls, a dancing stage, and crowds of people having picnics. Most larger matsuri involve some type of religious ritual (like carrying a kami (god) through the streets within a small temple box) with much dancing, singing, food, and revelry. I have yet to experience one of these more grand festivals which are numerous in Japan, but the smaller Hanami Matsuri was quite pleasant.
Below are some pictures of sakura as well as Senshu-koen during the festival.
A traditional Japanese dance celebrating the fishing harvest.
The pond that you can see in my other Senshu-koen album was filled with sakura petals.
For whatever reason, I find Japanese children to be even more adorable than American children. This girl was patiently waiting for her new stuffed animal to be wrapped up.
Sakura is the Japanese word for "cherry blossom." Sakura is one of the many things that is associated with Japan (along with the samurai and other things). The Japanese cherry trees are unique in that they have a very short blooming period; often the flowers last only a week before falling and giving rise to fruit. In addition, sakura are very beautiful and delicate. In the Japanese mind, sakura is often associated with the fragility and ephemeral beauty of life itself. They also figure prominently in bushido ethos as the samurai were generally prone to very short life-spans indeed.
Because sakura bloom for such a short time, it is a favorite past time of all Japanese to take time to view these beautiful blossoms and contemplate the nature of living and dying. This past time of viewing cherry blossoms is called hanami. What is interesting about sakura is that because Japan spans a few latitudes across the globe, there is a wave effect of sakura blooming in the south and moving northwards as those colder regions warm up. By the time that Akita sakura began blooming, Tokyo's sakura were well past their time. It is possible to enjoy hanami on numerous occasions if you follow the blossoming season northwards. In fact, many of my friends who stayed in Tokyo before heading to Akita did just that. I will be visiting Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan in just a week, so I may get a chance to experience hanami for a second time.
Finally, matsuri means "festival" in Japanese. The Senshu-koen Hanami Matsuri is a minor festival, with a collection of food stalls, a dancing stage, and crowds of people having picnics. Most larger matsuri involve some type of religious ritual (like carrying a kami (god) through the streets within a small temple box) with much dancing, singing, food, and revelry. I have yet to experience one of these more grand festivals which are numerous in Japan, but the smaller Hanami Matsuri was quite pleasant.
Below are some pictures of sakura as well as Senshu-koen during the festival.
Sakura
Senshu-koen Hanami Matsuri
Notice the fully bloomed sakura on the top of the picture in the background.
Notice the fully bloomed sakura on the top of the picture in the background.
A traditional Japanese dance celebrating the fishing harvest.
The pond that you can see in my other Senshu-koen album was filled with sakura petals.
For whatever reason, I find Japanese children to be even more adorable than American children. This girl was patiently waiting for her new stuffed animal to be wrapped up.
There was a group of five of us who went to the park, two international students (including myself) and three Japanese students. Going in a group means I have to suffer being in the picture myself, ha ha. The pond in the above picture is in the background.
Here's the guard house again through the fully bloomed sakura.
You can see the matsuri, sakura, and Akita-shi (Akita city) in the background in this picture.
To see the complete collection of pictures from the Hanami Matsuri, click here. It is also on the sidebar ("Senshu-koen Hanami Matsuri"). The matsuri was quite nice, and felt similar to many other little festivals you can find in the states. The food was different but delicious. I got myself some sweet-potato fries, which were enormous and delicious. There were all sorts of toys and trinkets available, but fortunately I was short on cash so I didn't blow much money on the over-priced niceties. The park itself was beautiful, thought at times it was hard to fully appreciate it with all of the people there. It was fun bumping into people and having short conversations in basic Japanese. My Japanese friends also taught me a lot of new words and I did the same for them in English. All in all, it was a great time.
And this pretty much concludes my feature article on Senshu Park! I hope you enjoy the pictures. Stop by this Sunday for another update. See you then!
Here's the guard house again through the fully bloomed sakura.
You can see the matsuri, sakura, and Akita-shi (Akita city) in the background in this picture.To see the complete collection of pictures from the Hanami Matsuri, click here. It is also on the sidebar ("Senshu-koen Hanami Matsuri"). The matsuri was quite nice, and felt similar to many other little festivals you can find in the states. The food was different but delicious. I got myself some sweet-potato fries, which were enormous and delicious. There were all sorts of toys and trinkets available, but fortunately I was short on cash so I didn't blow much money on the over-priced niceties. The park itself was beautiful, thought at times it was hard to fully appreciate it with all of the people there. It was fun bumping into people and having short conversations in basic Japanese. My Japanese friends also taught me a lot of new words and I did the same for them in English. All in all, it was a great time.
And this pretty much concludes my feature article on Senshu Park! I hope you enjoy the pictures. Stop by this Sunday for another update. See you then!
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