Cherry Blossom Glass Beads

I made glass beads with cherry blossom design, and made a hair ornament.

Cherry Blossom in Kamigamo Shrine, Shimogamo Shrine and along Kamo River

On April 6,  cherry trees in Kyoto were in full blossom. It was a fine day for cherry blossom viewing.
Kamigamo Shrine has a very famous weeping cherry tree named Saio-zakura.
So we went there to see the cherry tree.
There were also many Somei-yoshino cherry trees fully blooming.
We also enjoyed walking along Kamo River, seeing a lot of cherry blossoms.

Then we arrived at Shimogamo Shrine.
There we could see old kitchen for the gods.

Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto

It has been a little bit cold in Kyoto, so Somei-yoshino cherry trees have had only
a few flowers at present, but weeping cherry flowers have almost fully bloomed.
We went to Kodaiji temple to see the famous weeping cherry tree in the garden.
It was lighten up and we could see the projection mapping displayed on the white sand ground in the garden.

The weeping cherry tree also had many flowers in Maruyama Park.

In Daikakuji Temple, there are many Somei-yoshino cherry trees, and several weeping cherry trees.
Weeping cherry trees had fully bloomed and we are expecting Somei-yoshino blooming this weekend.

Meigetsu-in in Kamakura

Meigetsu-in is my favorite temple in Kamakura. This temple is very famous for its hydrangea garden. The  hydrangeas are very beautiful when they are at their best in June, but I like to visit there in other seasons because  it is less crowded.  We can enjoy to see other flowers in  and animals: squirrels, cats and rabbits.The scenery through the round window is great, too.

Oyako-domburi (chicken and egg bowl) and Abe-no-Seimei Shrine

We took Randen train to Kitano Hakubai-cho Station and walked for 30 minutes to go to Tori-iwa-ro, the famous restaurant for chicken dishes. We had Oyako-domburi for lunch. It was very tasty.

After we had lunch, we walked to Abe-no-Seimei Shrine. Abe-no-Seimei was an Ommyoji,  a kind of  shaman, living in Kyoto in 10th century. Abe-no-Seimei Shrine was dedicated to him and is a sort of power spot in Kyoto.
There are many peculiar symbols like Gobosei, a star like mark.

Koma-inu, gardian animal statues, are also different from other shrine’s.

Kinosaki Hot Spring

Kinosaki Hot Spring area is located in the
north east part of Hyogo prefecture.
It faces the Japan Sea. It takes about two hours from Kyoto Station to Kinosaki Hot Spring Station by the JR limited express train, Kinosaki.
There are many ryokans (Japanese style hotels) with hot spring baths  on the main street of Kinosaki.

We can use 7 hot spring public bath facilities(sotoyu) other than hot spring bath in each hotels, when we stay at the hotels.
At night we can also enjoy games and eating out at the shops on the street.

Ichi-no-yu; hot spring facility

Gosho-no-yu

the original hot spring

Hatsumode in Kyoro

One of the Japanese custom of New Year’s day is Hatsumode: the first visit of the new year  to shrines or temples offering our first prayers.

People go to shrines near their houses or famous shrines. Poular shrines for Hatsumode in Kyoto are Heian-jingu Shrine, Yasaka-jingu Shrine, Shimogamo-jinjya Shrine, and Kitano-jingu Shrine.

 We went to Yasaka Shrine and Matsuo-taisha Shrine, there were large Ema plates  with wild boar drawings on them.

2019 is the year of wild boar, so we can see
many drawings and ornaments of wild boars in many places.