University of Washington Sakura Cherry Blossoms 2014

It is time once again for sakura season! The cherry blossoms at the University of Washington are at peak bloom (as of 2014-03-23) and the weather is finally feeling like spring. The annual bloom of the cherry trees is a cherished part of the experience of being a student at the University of Washington and draws visitors from around the world. 

If you are interested in seeing the cherry blossoms, go now! You can also see pictures from previous years here if you need more sakura photos and you can read more about the history of the trees here.

University of Washington Cherry Blossoms 2013

Witnessing the quad at the University Washington in full bloom is one of the highlights of the year and a sight that draws visitors from all over the world. The 2013 sakura blossom is happening right now (4/1/2013) and with our wonderful weather over the weekend this is some of the best viewing that we have had in a couple years. In fact, every park in Seattle was full of people celebrating the full arrival of spring and the perfect weather. In Seattle, we can see mountains on all sides on a clear day and all of the mountains were out. It was simply a beautiful day.

If you want to help preserve these trees and ensure that there will always be cherry blossoms on the quad, please consider making a gift to the Class of 1959 Cherry Tree Endowed Fund. This fund helps pay for the care of the trees and, when the time comes, provides for new trees to replace those that have met the end of their lifespan.

If you are interested in more photos, here are photos from last year's cherry blossoms on the UW campus as well. And years before that as well. And some from Kyoto! And some from Osaka!

It's Sakura Season Again! PDX Style

Spring is here and with it comes one of the most significant times of the year: It's Sakura Season! After a long and colorless winter, the warmer weather is greeting us once again with the blossoming of cherry trees and the bright pink "sakura" petals. Today, I start off sakura coverage from my recent trip to Portland where the trees by the river were out in full force. I had no idea that Portland had cherry trees like this along the river, but I am very happy to have found out.

As for Seattle, the trees here are blooming but I am still waiting for the main event on the quad of the University of Washington. That is a sight to behold and last I checked (below), the cherry trees should blossom in the next week (3/26-3/31) and reach their height next week (4/1-4/8). I will keep you updated!

SOON.

UW Cherry Blossoms 2012

This weekend I went up to the University of Washington to visit the quad and take in the cherry trees there. Every campus has a particular place that is special to all its students, faculty, and alumni and this is definitely it for the UW. The yoshino cherry trees there were a senior gift to the university from the class of 1959 and have been part of the school since they were planted in 1964. Every year they bloom around spring break and signal that summer is almost here.

 After the break much more from this year's cherry blossoms!

Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto is the heart of traditional Japanese culture and the hills here turn pink during the cherry blossoms. After our visit to Osaka and Himeji Castle, this was our next stop. To this day, Ryoan-ji is one of my favorite places in the world because of the sight above. It's impossible to capture the moment in picture or word, but my friend and I entered the temple a bit burnt out from a day of temple hopping, turned the corner to see this cherry tree over the Zen garden, and were speechless. Literally. We both sat down and turned our full an complete attention to the scene.

I earnestly believe that we seldom truly experience the world around us. It's actually a skill that needs active practice because it's easy to get caught up in either the past or the future, instead of the present. In short, we think too much and it keeps us from truly experiencing the world around us. On top of the challenge of simply being present, we also add ourselves to our perception of the world. At a very basic level, even adding names to what we see around us is a distortion of a type because it adds values and associated concepts to the object being viewed. True experience wastes no energy on what is not there and instead focuses all the senses on everything around you. That might sound like a stretch, but this garden was built in part to help attain these types of true experiences through their use in Shikantaza, which is part of Zen Buddhism and is the practice of "quiet sitting in open awareness, reflecting directly the reality of life". We fell into some version of this when we were there and only left after someone politely let us know that they were closing for the night.

There is so much more to Kyoto than just cherry blossoms and Ryoan-ji. After the break, we'll continue the sakura festival and take a look around Kyoto.

(Some) Cherry Blossoms by Himeji Castle, Japan

Himeji Castle is located about 50 miles outside of Osaka and is an easy day trip from the city. By train, it's about an hour and a half and $20 and there are plenty of options for getting there and back at all hours except early morning. We arrived after the peak bloom when most of the petals had already fallen, but the castle is worth a visit anytime. Unlike many castles in Japan which have succumb to fire or destruction by war, this is a 400 year old original. It's the quintessential Japanese castle. 

Virtual Visit of the 2012 Washington DC Cherry Blossoms

I've been keeping an eye on the Cherry Blossoms in DC and noticed that photographer David Coleman has a live blog of the trees with this year's blossoms. Check out his website: Have Camera Will Travel - Washington DC Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms in Osaka, Japan

In Japan, cherry blossoms are more than just a mark of a new season. They are as deeply part of the national identity as Mt. Fuji, but to really understand the connection that the Japanese have to these blossoms requires seeing it in person in Japan. In my case, I visited in 2009 and found out for myself, completely on accident, how wonderful the Japanese sakura season is.

When I purchased my tickets to Osaka, I hadn't thought about timing the visit at all. I simply wanted to see Kyoto and the Kansai region and found a tremendously inexpensive fare that made it possible ($437 roundtrip). My friend and I arrived at night in Osaka and it wasn't until the next morning that we realized that the cherry trees were in bloom when came out between the skyscrapers and onto the grounds of Osaka Castle. We had obviously arrived just after the peak bloom, but there were plenty of trees left full of blossoms and when the wind blew the sight was like pink snow on a warm breeze. It's very easy to see how the Japanese fall in love with the sight generation after generation and have integrated it into their landscapes and identityover the centuries.

Osaka is a wonderful place to visit. It's a blue collar town with a great baseball team (The Hanshin Tigers: Win or lose Tigers Pride!) and a fantastic food culture. Osaka is actually the epicenter for food culture in Japan partially because of it's blue collar heritage: Merchants in Japan were at the bottom of the traditional caste system in the 1800s because money was considered to be corrupted or dirty. However, while successful merchants had plenty of money they were not allowed to flaunt their wealth directly or own form land. Instead, they showed status and wealthy by spending on art, food, and non-obvious luxuries like silk linings to otherwise mute clothing. As a result, Osaka's food scene flourished with the patronage of wealthy merchants. The canal district, Dōtonbori, is still a flourishing restaurant and entertainment district that offers something for everyone: There are street vendors serving up takoyaki, walk up booths with snow crabs, open charcoal grills for do it grilled meat, and a wide range of restaurants for any price range.

From Osaka, it's easy enough to get to Kyoto, Himeji, and the rest of Japan via bullet train. Next time, we'll take a look at the last blossoms at Himeji Castle, one of the last authentic ancient castles of Japan (most other castles like the one in Osaka are reconstruction). After the break, more photos from my trip to Osaka!

Cherry Blossoms on the Quad

These photos aren't from this year (for 2012, check this post out), but while we're waiting for the trees to bloom this year these pictures come from the quad at the University of Washington. These trees are part of the experience studying there and every year they announce the arrival of spring on campus. While most visitors are students or alumni, the grove here does attract some tourists from Japan and beyond.