Note: Apologies for my very inconsistent updates recently. I'm afraid I haven't given this blog as much attention as I would have liked to over the past few weeks. However, I have uploaded a new introduction video to my YouTube channel, and am planning to shortly release a few vlogs of recent adventures. Sorry for the slowness, folks.
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Beautiful cherry blossoms in Ritsurin Koen.
Many people, from near and far, gather under
the beautiful sakura bloom.
One of the most iconic and enduring images of Japan is undoubtedly the sakura trees, or as they're popularly known in the west, "cherry blossoms". Appearing for around only two short weeks in the Spring every year, these beautiful tries have fascinated the people of Japan for centuries due to their short but glorious bloom, often likened to the life of a samurai.
Enjoying the Sakura Bloom in Ritsurin Koen, Takamatsu.
Coming into Spring this year, I finally got an opportunity to see these beautiful flowers for myself, first hand, in Takamatsu City. The environment was breathtaking to behold, and I'm sure my words would struggle to truly do it justice. Instead, here are some of my photo highlights from my visit to Ritsurin Koen in Takamatsu.
A forewarning, however; I took far too many photographs that day. So much so, in fact, that I still haven't uploaded them to Facebook as I've been slowly whittling down the best ones over time (I took around 600 on the day). For my Facebook friends, well... I've been sparing you a mega-upload, but it's certainly coming!
Plenty of other photographers were also out for the day, enjoying both the sakura bloom and the wonderful weather. Everywhere I turned, cameras were everywhere, including families taking photographs of their children and loved ones. It was a magical sight, seeing how such a small event as the blossoming of leaves could bring so many people together.
Many locals were very friendly and talkative, and I found myself enjoying an udon lunch with the company of a lovely trio who spoke excellent English and were keen to learn about my home country and the differences between Scotland and Japan.
A particular highlight of the day was meeting a friendly Japanese family who invited me to join their hanami (flower viewing) parties. There was much merriment around the garden and it felt great to meet more local people and enjoy the scenery with them. There was quite a lot of alcohol involved, though! It was still a bit early for me, but I enjoyed at least one glass of sake.
As I say, there were far too many photographs to post here and far too many to post on here (I've already included far too many). However, I'll leave you with my favourite photograph from the day. It's not technically brilliant (not very many of these photographs were, to be honest), this one captured a moment for me that tugged more than just a little at the heart-strings.
You can't help but smile.
