The dinner party I went to yesterday was right in the middle of Gion, Kyoto's traditional area for maiko and geisha.

We ate at a simple okonomiyaki restaurant on the Shirakawa river (the river that runs next to my place, but a kilometer downstream), just off a street whose name translates, literally, to “Cherry-Blossom-Viewing Lane”. The immediate area has a lot of traditional architecture, cobblestone streets, and the river overhung with cherry trees just starting to blossom, so you can imagine the photographic potential.

So can everyone else, which is why I was surprised that it wasn't super crowded. I'm sure that'll change next week as the blossoms really start to come in.

Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4— ¹/60 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — full exif & map
Shirakawa River, in the Gion area of Kyoto

The picture above is from one end of a bridge going over the river, and is pretty much what you see when you step out of the restaurant. The trees along the right are mostly-bare cherry trees, with some spatterings of blossoms.

Moving to the right, over the bridge I was standing on, and the trees that had been on the right are on the left, with the milling crowds now on the right.....

Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — ¹/90 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — full exif & map
South Shirakawa Street, in Gion

Heading down the street a bit brings us to this tree in the front garden of a restaurant...

Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — ¹/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — full exif & map
Mostly-Empty “Shidarezakura” Tree

The tree is nicely lit up, but still without blossoms. It's of the “shidarezakura” variety, which is essentially a cherry tree like a weeping willow.

Across the street again, and down a bit further, one of the trees overhanging the river has some blossoms, and an ever-changing throng of people snapping pictures of it.

Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — ¹/100 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — full exif & map
At this point, any blossoms are photographed blossoms

It actually doesn't look too bad in the picture above, but you have to realize that a cherry tree with only a few blossoms is like a moulting dog losing its hair to some sickness. The few rough tufts of hair give no hint of the big shaggy dog that was, and perhaps look worse than a bald dog. I have no doubt that by next week the tree will be spectacular and awe-inspiring in the original sense of the word, but at this point it's not much to look at.

Here's a closeup, looking to one of the restaurants lining the other side of the river.

Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — ¹/40 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — full exif & map

Even with ISO at 640 and f/1.4, it was still a 1/40th second shot, and so it's not very sharp. Of course, I should have had a tripod if I wanted a clear shot, but I didn't have one with me.