桜名所めぐり CHERRY BLOSSOM VIEWING TOUR

　桜名所めぐり

大野寺しだれ桜

醍醐寺しだれ桜（満開時）

 

４月６日と７日、女房と「京都・奈良大和路の桜名所めぐり」というテーマの一泊二日の旅行をしてきた。新幹線とバスの団体旅行で参加者は１９人（うち男性３人）。
今年は、例年になく桜の開花が早く、京都の桜はほとんどが葉桜で、奈良の方は訪れた寺が山間部にあり、しだれ桜などが丁度見頃であった。
訪れた寺は、京都の勧修寺、醍醐寺。奈良は談山神社、室生寺、大野寺、長谷寺であった。
印象に残ったのは、醍醐寺の巨大なしだれ桜であった。秀吉が花見をしたと言われる桜で、枝張りは２０メートルぐらいはあった。次に見とれたのは大野寺の巨大なしだれ桜で、桜が滝の白糸のように白く、滝の如く美しく咲いていた。三つ目は長谷寺の国宝本尊十一面観音像で、高さが１０メートルある金メッキの木彫り立像であった。
一日目はあいにくの雨であったが、二日目は曇りで、長谷寺の本堂まで階段が３９９段あったが、なんとか無事に登れた。

CHERRY BLOSSOM VIEWING TOUR
 

My wife and I joined a group tour to see cherry blossoms in Kyoto and Nara on April 6 and 7. 19 people, including 3 men, joined it. We used the Shinkansen and a bus to get there.
　　Cherry blossoms throughout Japan opened a few weeks earlier than usual. Therefore, cherry blossoms in Kyoto had already fallen, but the ones in Nara were in full bloom because the temples we visited were in the mountains. Especially, shidare-sakura or weeping cherry blossoms were very beautiful.
　　The temples we visited were Kajyu-ji and Daigo-ji in Kyoto, and Tanzan Shrine, Ohono-ji, and Hase-dera in Nara.
　　What impressed me most during the tour were, first, the giant shidare-sakura in Daigo-ji, which Toyotomi Hideyoshi is said to have admired. The branches were about 20 meters wide. The next impressive view was the giant white shidare-sakura, whose cherry blossoms were pure white and the blossoms clusters looked like they were waterfalls. The third was a national treasure, the image of the 11-faced Kannon, which is a 10 meter-tall gilt wooden statue of the Buddha. It was overwhelming.
　　It was rainy on the first day, but cloudy on the second. I am glad that I climbed 399 steps that led to the main hall of Hase-dera.