Cherry Blossoms

Sakura at Himeji Castle + Current Status of Restoration

Japan’s most famous castle is set to be revealed after more than 4 years of being hidden from view. The World Heritage castle has been under restoration since 2010.

Himeji Castle: April 2013

Throughout most of the restoration, the main tower of the castle has been hidden inside this massive cover, surrounded by scaffolding. Since January 2014, two large cranes have been in place, carefully removing these outer construction structures.

Himeji Castle: April 2014

In the recent photo above, the entire outer shroud has been removed and the external scaffolding is in place.

By June 2014 the top of the castle’s main tower will be visible.

By August 2014 the entire castle will be revealed, however the cranes will still be in place, removing some structures around the castle.

The restoration is set for completion by March 2015. It will then open to the public just in time for spring, when we can finally see the castle in all its glory, surrounded by cherry blossoms!

I personally am already planning a trip to visit the castle in April 2015. It will probably be very busy, since it will be the first time the public can view the castle in 5 years, but it’ll surely be worth it!

View this location - Map coordinates: 34.839440, 134.693889.

More information, in Japanese, about the restoration schedule is available from Kajima Corporation’s Himeji Castle restoration website.

Early Blooming Sakura: The Kawazu Cherry Blossom

A handful of photographers in Japan spawned my love of photography. One of those inspirational shooters is David A LaSpina (A.K.A. Japan Dave).

Dave was one of the photographers that got me interested in High Dynamic Range (HDR photography) in Japan.

Living in Okazaki City in Aichi Prefecture, Dave regularly posts quality photos, often including iPhone wallpapers, to his blog JapanDave.com. With spring and sakura in season in Japan, Dave posted this beautiful photo of a certain type of cherry blossom, one of the first to bloom in the area…

Kawazu Sakura

This photo was originally posted on Dave’s blog: Enter Spring by David A LaSpina.

The kawazu sakura  「河津桜 Kawazu Cherry Blossom」 gets its name from the small town of Kawazu in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the east of Aichi Prefecture. The town even has a live camera feed, showing the kawazu sakura trees.

It’s interesting that the kawazu sakura has bloomed earlier in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture than in Kawazu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Location of this photo:

View this location - Map coordinates: 34°56’48.1″N, 137°10’40.2″E.

Sakura, Samurai, Castle and Ninja

Spring means time for sakura 「桜 cherry blossoms」 in Japan. It’s also a season where many festivals take place. A lot of these festivals are centered around the cherry blossom.

Sakurai festival in Okazaki

These photos are from the Ieyasu Parade and Cherry Blossom Festival in Okazaki. This parade is a spectacle. It celebrates Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the most famous shōgun in Japan’s history.

At the festival a reenactment of a great battle occurs every year, where a rival clan attacked Okazaki Castle, Ieyasu’s birthplace and stronghold. The reenactment features ninjas attacking a castle, a huge samurai battle, and ranks of samurai firing old rifles.

In Japanese the festival is known as Ieyasu Gyoretsu 「家康行列 Ieyasu Parade」. The festival is held on the first Sunday of every month at Okazaki Castle Park. The Ieyasu Parade coincides with hanami 「花見 cherry blossom viewing」 in Okazaki, where groups gather under the sakura for parties and the sakura are lit up at night from early to mid April.

See more info and photos about the Cherry Blossom Festival and Iyeyasu Samurai Parade in Okazaki city, Aichi prefecture.

Location of the festival:

View this location on Google Maps.

60+ of the Best Sakura Photos from Japan『日本の桜の写真』

Japan’s best cherry blossom photos of 2013

Only the best of Japan’s cherry blossoms from the spring of 2013…

…a warm start to March (the first month of spring in Japan) saw the bloom of sakura come early this year.

Kyoto hit it’s peak in the first week of April and Tokyo’s peak came 12 days earlier than average (at the start of the last week of March). In many areas, late snow fall covered cherry blossoms for an incredible mix of spring, snow and sakura.

This is a HUGE post with lots of photos! This year as I waded through thousands of photos to share on JapanTravelMate’s Facebook Page and @JapanTravelMate on Twitter, it was clear that this year the tourists, local photographers, J-bloggers and J-photographers were out in force!

Most of these photos look better at a higher resolution, so be sure to click on any photo to view a larger version.

The Best Sakura Photos from Japan 2013

Best of Japan’s Cherry Blossom Photos by J-bloggers and J-photographers

To wrap up the year in sakura, I approached my favourite bloggers and photographers based in Japan, and asked them to share their favourites…

By Leslie Tayler, GaijinCamera.com

Cherry blossom trees at Matsumoto Castle, Nagano Prefecture:
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The famous Meguro-gawa in Tokyo:
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By Japan Dave, japandave.com

A wall of cherry blossoms in Okazaki:
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Sakura surrounds a small bridge in Okazaki:
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Shisare-zakura (weeping cherry blossom):
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By Hida Satoyama Cycling

Tourists on a cycling tour in Hida City, Gifu Prefecture:
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By Shibuya246, shibuya246.com

A plum blossom and cherry blossom tree at the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park:
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By Zooming Japan, zoomingjapan.com

A deer in Nara city:
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Great Buddha Hall (daibutsu-den) at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Todai-ji in Nara city, Nara Prefecture:
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By Lee Chapman, tokyotimes.org

A brief but beautiful cherry blossom moment in Tokyo:

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By Muza-chan, muza-chan.net

Higashi Shinen, Heian Shrine, Kyoto:
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Sanjo-Ohashi, Kyoto:
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By ME! Dean Wormald, japantravelmate.com

Sakura at Okazaki Castle - 岡崎城の桜:
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Okazaki Castle Park Sakura - 岡崎城公園の桜:
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Five-storied pagoda and sakura at Kofuku-ji in Nara. 奈良市 興福寺の五重塔:
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HDR Photos of Sakura from Japan

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range - a photography process where multiple photos are taken of the exact same scene, at different exposures, to capture a broad range of highlights, midtones and shadows. When combined in post-processing, this images create a HDR photo.

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More Beautiful Film and Digital Photos of Sakura

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Best sakura photo of 2012?

These images aren’t from 2013, but they are well worth a mention!
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Finally, a very old cherry blossom photo

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That’s it!

If you like any of the photos above, be sure to quickly hit the VOTE button on your favourites.

Keep in touch with JapanTravelMate to find out which is the best sakura photo of 2013.

Cherry Blossom Festival & Ieyasu Samurai Parade (Ieyasu Gyoretsu) in Okazaki

The cherry blossoms (sakura in Japanese) bloom in spring in Japan, and just about every city has their own festival (matsuri in Japanese) to celebrate this special time.

It is so special because the cherry blossoms are in bloom for only a few weeks, requiring a very specific climate in order to show their full colours.

This article is of our day trip to Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture, and gives you all the info needed to visit the festival yourself.

Okazaki is close to Toyota City and Nagoya, about 3 hours drive from Tokyo. Okazaki has the Ieyasu Samurai Parade every year (known as the Ieyasu Gyoretsu 「家康行列」 in Japanese), famous for the historic samurai battle reenactments.

Okazaki is a lovely small (by Japan’s standards) city, sparse with plenty of greenery and an ancient history.

The parade and experiencing a cherry blossom festival promises a great day out.

Experience the Ieyasu Gyoretsu (Parade)

Getting off the train at Naka-Okazaki station, we followed the lantern and cherry blossom lined streets toward Okazaki-jo (Okazaki Castle).

Approaching Okazaki Castle was the main area to view the cherry blossoms.

Cherry blossom viewing is known as hanami in Japanese. It is very popular, groups of people get out their blue mats, mini-BBQs and beer cans, to sit under the cherry blossom trees and enjoy the spring weather.

A moat surrounds Okazaki Castle, and crossing a red bridge you leave the main area with many people and many food stalls, to the outer castle area with more people and more food stalls.

The festival celebrates the cherry blossoms, but also the famous samurai Ieyasu Tokugawa. He was a famous samurai who became a shogun, known to be a brilliant tactician who fought and won many great battles for the Emperor.

A reenactment of a battle is in full swing, showing a ninja clan attempting to storm the castle. Ieyasu and his samurai warriors repel the attack.

Before the Ninja vs. Samurai battle above, a parade of samurai departed the main “battlefield” for a parade around Okazaki. They return for yet another, and very spectacular reenactment.

The samurai lined up and fired replica guns. The battle ended with fireworks… in the daytime!

We viewed the battle from under the cherry blossom trees, enjoying some snacks and Yebisu beer.

This post shows just one of many times I have enjoyed the cherry blossom season, look at the cherry blossom category page for more posts.

Ieyasu Parade 2014 dates

The parade will be held on Sunday April 6, 2014. The parade activities begin at 1:30PM.

For official details see the Okazaki City Guide Ieyasu Gyoretsu page (English) or the Okazaki Guide with parade schedule (Japanese).

How to get to Okazaki Park for the Ieyasu Parade

By train from Nagoya Station: Take the JR Tokaido Line to Okazaki Station, this part is a 30 minute trip. At Okazaki Station, change to the Aichi Loop Line to Naka-Okazaki Station, this is a 6 minute trip. The total cost is ¥850.

Other things to do in Okazaki

The parade is held in Okazaki Park, where Okazaki Castle is located. Be sure to take some time to visit the castle while you’re at the parade.

Japanese Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Viewing Festival: Hanami 『花見』

In Okayama every year during the Japanese spring (mid April) there is a sakura (Japanese for cherry blossom) viewing festival. Cherry blossom viewing in Japan is known as hanami 『花見』.These cherry blossom trees are against the Asahi River which runs through Okayama city.

Here’s a panorama I made from the festival.

This photo was taken near Okayama Castle and Korakuen Garden, close to the city center.

Depending on the location in Japan, the best time to see the cherry blossom trees and attend a Japanese cherry blossom festival is usually around April in the Japanese spring. This can vary from March to May for places further south and north.

Take a look at ‘Japanese Cherry Blossom - Photos and Info‘ for more photos of the cherry blossom.

Japanese Cherry Blossom (Sakura): Photos and Info

Japan, famous for the cherry blossom (sakura 桜 in Japanese)

In Japanese, cherry blossom is ‘sakura’ (most commonly used kanji is 桜 which means ‘spring flower’). In Japan, sakura are not only nice to look at, they are renowned around the world and steeped in tradition within Japan. There many annual festivals (such as the Samurai Parade during Cherry Blossom season). We went to a festival in April in Okayama and saw Japan’s beautiful cherry blossoms from Fukuoka to Tokyo.

Below are my photos of Japan’s cherry blossom, from all over the country.

To see the Japanese cherry blossom, the best time to travel to Japan is their spring in late March and throughout April. There are many festivals throughout the entire country, especially at the many temples, like the one below at Kyoto.

Related post: A panorama of a Japanese cherry blossom festival at Okayama.