**External link to the website except written in Japanese
May 1. I went back to Koriyama city.
And May 3. with my family I went to the Kitakami City Park Tenshochi** (北上市立公園展勝地), Iwate prefecture, 250 km north from Koriyama, 500 km north from Tokyo, in order to see the cherry blossoms.
In Japan several days since Apr. 29. are called Golden Week (GW) because in this term there are successive national holidays (Apr. 29: Showa Day or the birthday of Showa Emperor Hirohito [1901-1989; reign 1926-1989]; May 3: Constitution Memorial Day; May 4: Greenery Day; May 5: Children's day.)
And this year May 1. and 2. were Saturday and Sunday so we had 5 straight holidays at least (and 7 straight holidays if we could take one day off Apr.30.)
By the way, in Japan May 1., I mean, May Day is NOT a public holiday.
It was a very sunny day that day.
Moreover, this fine weather went on in the term between Apr. 29. and May 5. in the whole country of Japan.
A TV news said that there had not such successive sunny days in GW in the last 50 years in Tokyo (really?)
Therefore it was said that many travelers went out in order to enjoy their little trips on the place nearby.
About 9 a.m. starting from Koriyama for Kitakami by car, it was about 12:30 when we got out of a pay Expressway at Kitakami-Eduriko Interchange (北上江釣子インターチェンジ) exit.
But it took more than 2 hours to park the car on a parking area!
There were a lot of cars crowded and waiting in line and line to park on the about 1 km way long to the park.
It was about 3 p.m. when we parked the car and got out of it.
It was said that Kitakami city was counted as one of the 3 most beautiful sights to see the cherry blossoms in Michinoku (the North Touhoku) region of 3 prefectures, Aomori (Hirosaki city), Akita (Kakunodate area), and Iwate.
And this year the cherry blossoms bloomed later than usual there because last March and April the cold weather went on in the whole country of Japan.
(For example, in Fukushima prefecture Apr. 22. there was a snowfall and the ground was covered with about 10 cm of snow, which was the latest showfall in the last 20 years in Fukushima city. See also here*.)
In Kitakami city the cherry blossoms are out from the middle to the end of April as usual.
So a lot of visitors (of course including us!) made an invasion upon the park in this GW!
By the way, every year in the New Year holidays, the summer holidays and GW a lot of the Japanese make a trip in order to go back to their own hometown or visit various places around Japan.
In this park there were the cherry trees standing along the about 2 km bank long of Kitakami River which was running through the park.
Seeing is believing. Erfahrung ist die beste Lehrmeisterin. OK, let me show you photos below! (Click photos to see larger ones.)
When I was viewing the river, suddenly I remembered a famous haike by Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉).
Gathering the rain of May / 五月雨を
Flowing how swiftly / あつめて早し
The Mogami River / 最上川
(Translated by myself)
But the river I was seeing was NOT the Mogami River BUT the Kitakami River, as I wrote before.
(Both of these rivers are running through the Touhoku region.)
And there performed a monkey tamer and her monkey from Tokyo: Hikari & Hikaru (ひかり・ひかる).
Hikari, left, a non-hairy female, and Hikaru, right, a hairy male, belong to Murasaki Taro & Jiro Company* (村崎太郎・二郎一門).
And the monkey taming is one of traditional buskings in Japan.
His hands are foots!
"What a monkey he is!" A bird said.
You can see three monkeys in this photo!
(In fact when these two "monkeys" in red shirts set foot in a rope of the border line, the tamer said a joke to them, "we can't tell which is a monkey if you come in the rope! Take care!" However, needless to say, they were photoed by chance!)
Gazing at their performance, some kids were very pleased with them.
About 7 p.m. we started from there for Koriyama.
I sat at the steering wheel because my uncle, the driver of the outward, and my mother were already drunk. (As you perhaps know, I do not quite dislike alcohol but not drink it so much. Of course then I did not drink alcohol at all.)
And it was about 0 a.m. when we arrived at Koriyama city because on the Expressway there was an enormous and heavy traffic jam caused by the Japanese invasion upon everywhere.
I was very tired...
Note:
It took me about 10 hours in total to finish this entry. (It is very hard and I am very tired too!)
(Writing English texts takes me such too much time because I always write a entry with a Japanese-English dictionary.)
This article of mine written in (though poor!) English must make a large contribution to let travelers from abroad know the information about Kitakami city and the monkey taming.
So they have to give a reward to me (laugh!)
And this year May 1. and 2. were Saturday and Sunday so we had 5 straight holidays at least (and 7 straight holidays if we could take one day off Apr.30.)
By the way, in Japan May 1., I mean, May Day is NOT a public holiday.
It was a very sunny day that day.
Moreover, this fine weather went on in the term between Apr. 29. and May 5. in the whole country of Japan.
A TV news said that there had not such successive sunny days in GW in the last 50 years in Tokyo (really?)
Therefore it was said that many travelers went out in order to enjoy their little trips on the place nearby.
About 9 a.m. starting from Koriyama for Kitakami by car, it was about 12:30 when we got out of a pay Expressway at Kitakami-Eduriko Interchange (北上江釣子インターチェンジ) exit.
But it took more than 2 hours to park the car on a parking area!
There were a lot of cars crowded and waiting in line and line to park on the about 1 km way long to the park.
It was about 3 p.m. when we parked the car and got out of it.
It was said that Kitakami city was counted as one of the 3 most beautiful sights to see the cherry blossoms in Michinoku (the North Touhoku) region of 3 prefectures, Aomori (Hirosaki city), Akita (Kakunodate area), and Iwate.
And this year the cherry blossoms bloomed later than usual there because last March and April the cold weather went on in the whole country of Japan.
(For example, in Fukushima prefecture Apr. 22. there was a snowfall and the ground was covered with about 10 cm of snow, which was the latest showfall in the last 20 years in Fukushima city. See also here*.)
In Kitakami city the cherry blossoms are out from the middle to the end of April as usual.
So a lot of visitors (of course including us!) made an invasion upon the park in this GW!
By the way, every year in the New Year holidays, the summer holidays and GW a lot of the Japanese make a trip in order to go back to their own hometown or visit various places around Japan.
Some often say that it seems as if they made the Barbarian Invasion or Völkerwanderung in German (I mean 民族大移動) in these terms.
In this park there were the cherry trees standing along the about 2 km bank long of Kitakami River which was running through the park.
Seeing is believing. Erfahrung ist die beste Lehrmeisterin. OK, let me show you photos below! (Click photos to see larger ones.)
When I was viewing the river, suddenly I remembered a famous haike by Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉).
Gathering the rain of May / 五月雨を
Flowing how swiftly / あつめて早し
The Mogami River / 最上川
(Translated by myself)
But the river I was seeing was NOT the Mogami River BUT the Kitakami River, as I wrote before.
(Both of these rivers are running through the Touhoku region.)
And there performed a monkey tamer and her monkey from Tokyo: Hikari & Hikaru (ひかり・ひかる).
Hikari, left, a non-hairy female, and Hikaru, right, a hairy male, belong to Murasaki Taro & Jiro Company* (村崎太郎・二郎一門).
And the monkey taming is one of traditional buskings in Japan.
His hands are foots!
"What a monkey he is!" A bird said.
You can see three monkeys in this photo!
(In fact when these two "monkeys" in red shirts set foot in a rope of the border line, the tamer said a joke to them, "we can't tell which is a monkey if you come in the rope! Take care!" However, needless to say, they were photoed by chance!)
Gazing at their performance, some kids were very pleased with them.
About 7 p.m. we started from there for Koriyama.
I sat at the steering wheel because my uncle, the driver of the outward, and my mother were already drunk. (As you perhaps know, I do not quite dislike alcohol but not drink it so much. Of course then I did not drink alcohol at all.)
And it was about 0 a.m. when we arrived at Koriyama city because on the Expressway there was an enormous and heavy traffic jam caused by the Japanese invasion upon everywhere.
I was very tired...
Note:
It took me about 10 hours in total to finish this entry. (It is very hard and I am very tired too!)
(Writing English texts takes me such too much time because I always write a entry with a Japanese-English dictionary.)
This article of mine written in (though poor!) English must make a large contribution to let travelers from abroad know the information about Kitakami city and the monkey taming.
So they have to give a reward to me (laugh!)
