Shinjuku Gardens....Finally!

Tuesday, March 31st-- So, the kids and I made a goal to be out of the house this morning around 9 a.m.  That didn't happen, but we did get to Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens by 11 a.m.  That wasn't too bad and gave us plenty of time to do what we wanted to do today.

How lucky we are to be in Japan at this special time of year!  People will book their flights to Japan a couple of years in advance in order to be here in the spring.  When they make their plans, they are just guessing when the sakura season will hit.  Sometimes they are lucky enough to be here for the cherry blossoms, and sometimes they are not.  There are websites dedicated to the cherry blossom forecast across the entire country of Japan.  People will look at the report often to find out when and where to see the sakura, and we were no exception.  This is a special part of our experience in this country, and I don't want to have any regrets regarding sakura.  If we have to set school work aside for a week, so be it.  I don't want to look back and think, hmmm.....wish we would have taken advantage of our situation more and gone out to see the blossoms more than we did.  Nope.  None of us want to ever think that.  We were going to hit the blossom viewing hard.  NO regrets!

We made it back to Shinjuku Gyoen, and just like yesterday, the whole park was covered with people enjoying the sakura views just like we wanted to do.

The history and importance of the cherry blossom in Japan is very interesting.  I found a lot of information on it, but don't know if all of it is completely accurate or not.  It's still fun to read about, though!
The very word "sakura" comes from the word "sakuya", which means blooming. Named after the Princess Kono-han-sakuya-Hime (tree-flower-blooming-princess), who according to legend dropped from heaven onto a cherry tree, this love for the cherry blooms is long-rooted in history.
In the 8th century, the sakura had gained popularity with the aristocracy and was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court.  Under the splendor of the blossoms, they would write poetry, compose music, and create works of art.
Soon it spread to the samurai warriors, and they compared the bloom's short lives to their own.  It was said that just as a cherry bloom will only last three days, so does the life of a samurai warrior.  It is said that during the Kamakura Period, samurai going into battle would not continue if the only way through led over a path covered with cherry petals. It was considered a desecration to walk on the blossoms.
In WWII, cherry blossoms were sometimes painted on the sides of planes before embarking on suicide missions because the blooms symbolized how short life was.  Falling cherry petals came to represent the sacrifice of these missions to honor the emperor.  The government even encouraged the people to believe that the souls of the deceased soldiers were reincarnated in the blossoms.
These trees have been offered by Japan as symbols of peace to many countries of the world.  Japan gave a large number of cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the two nations then-growing friendship and these are the cherry blossom trees that now infamously bloom in Washington D.C. every spring.  It's also cool to find out that over 1,400 trees were planted by the remains of the Berlin Wall.
Japan has more types of cherry trees than any other country, over 200 in all. The blossoms are pickled and used to make a hot drink served on special occasions, and the leaves are pickled and used as the wrapping for sweets.  We have seen a few mochi treats in stores that have a leaf wrapped around it.  These leaves are pickled cherry tree leaves.
I also found some Japanese ideas that believe that the cherry blossom has a some type of positive energy that gives it power.  By sitting under the blossoms, one could tap into this power and be healed from ailments.
In weddings, a special tea is prepared with salt preserved cherry buds.  The blossoms open when steeped in the tea, and this act ensures the happiness of the couple.
As you remember all the beautiful cherry blossoms that we saw this week during sakura--think about what they represent and remember that like the life of a cherry blossom, our lives and the lives of those we love are just temporary—so make the most of every second!

Back to our trip to the Shinjuku Gardens......We paid to get into the park and began to walk down the path that would take us over to a pond.  The blossoms were high in the air and just so beautiful.  I was so excited that we were finally here and were finally going to be able to see these gardens--and see Sakura here also--that I stretched my arms in the air to get as close to the blossoms as I could and let out a little shriek.  Caitlin told me later that an old Japanese gentleman laughed at me in my excitement--but I don't care!  I hope these kids someday realize how lucky and blessed we were to be here--in Japan--during this special week!

We didn't bring a packed lunch with us this time, we just had some snacks.  We found this spot that happened to be empty and the blossoms would be directly over our heads.  We decided to take advantage of this spot and enjoy the wonderful aroma from the blossoms while we had a snack.

I noticed this sweet scene of a mother introducing her cute boy to his country's gorgeous cherry blossoms.

While the rest of us wandered off to take in the beauty around us, Nathan decided to enjoy the smell of sakura and the warmth from the sun as he laid down on the blankets and relaxed.

Logan put Kirstin on his shoulders so she could be closer to the blossoms....o.k., so this is cute and Logan is such a SWEET big brother....but Audra just broke her collarbone after being on Logan's shoulders just like this.  Logan feels terrible about Audra's collarbone and it was just a freak accident, but it still makes me really nervous to see Kirstin like this!  Hang on tight, big brother!

Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens is huge, and has many beautiful garden areas.  It was completed in 1906 as an Imperial garden, it was re-designated as a national garden after the Second World War and opened to the public. 
One of the things that makes these particular gardens stand out is that it contains a French Formal Garden, an English Landscape Garden, and a Japanese Traditional Garden.  They had horticulturalists from Britain and France design their country's garden area in this park so it would be authentic.  We thought it would be fun to see all three gardens back to back and compare the different ways to landscape.  We went to the French Formal Garden (above) first.....hmmm.....not that impressive at all.  I think that it has potential and is probably beautiful in the summer when the trees have leaves and there are flowers...somewhere.  I'm sure that it just needs to warm up some more, but unfortunately, the French garden didn't get us excited at all.

We moved on and found another pretty pond area, this time with some ducks.  See them under the cherry blossoms?

And turtles as well!

There were two ponds, and this one had a lot of cherry blossom petals that had fallen in the water .  It was beautiful!

 So pretty.....like it's a dream and doesn't even seem real.

Next, we followed the map to the English Landscape Garden.  We found that it was the area where we had come yesterday and sat under the blossoms for our hanami party.   There were a lot of people here today that were doing the same thing.

The large area is beautiful because of all the flowering trees, but that's all the English garden had going for it.  There wasn't anything very special about it.

Moving on to the Japanese gardens. 

Right after I took this picture, an older Japanese gentleman came and gave me a loaf of bread (which was 6 slices) so that the kids could feed the ducks.  It was so kind of him, and we all bowed and thanked him several times.  After he left, however, the kids dug in and started eating the bread themselves.  They were acting like they hadn't had anything to eat in days!  When I tried to stop them and tell them that the kind man had given us the bread to feed the ducks, not ourselves, they told me that they didn't care.  Because the bread loaves are so tiny here and much more expensive than in America, we aren't buying sliced bread and are instead making biscuits and rolls.  The kids were so excited to be able to eat a slice of store bought bread again and told me there was no way they were going to throw it to the ducks. 

Next, we came to the Japanese Traditional Garden.  It started with this building, which was a gift from Taiwan to the Imperial family when a prince got married.

The Japanese gardens were by far the most impressive out of all three gardens.  We decided that the country of Japan just built Shinjuku Gyoen with the three different gardens to demonstrate their superiority on landscaping over the rest of the world. 

The last part of Shinjuku Gyoen that we had to walk through was the Mother and Child Forest.

As we were walking through, we came upon a pond.

Inside the pond, we found millions of tadpoles.  The kids thought this was great!

Shinjuku Gyoen National Gardens has the reputation of being the most beautiful garden in all of Tokyo, and after walking through it, we would agree.  Especially during Sakura!!