Japan's cherry-blossom season has arrived a bit early this year. During a drive in the mountains yesterday, we came across some cherry blossoms that were just starting to bloom.

There weren't many blooms yet, but already lots of buds....

I normally don't post new cherry-blossom pictures until mid-to-late March (last year's "It Has Begun: Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto" went up on March 25th), although new plum blossoms do come a month earlier, with 2007's first plum-blossom post arriving in mid February, and last year's "Plum Blossoms at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine" just catching the tail end of the plum-blossom on [...]

After a stupendous moment in the sun, the common white cherry blossom has all but evaporated from Kyoto, but there are still plenty of other varieties of cherry tree (and other tree, I suppose) in full bloom or just starting to blossom. The weeping crimson at the old imperial palace are one example, but there are plenty more, such as this tree full of fluffy pink I came across on the way home from Mass on Sunday. They were so nice, I had to return with my camera...

I like how in the photo above you can see all the [...]

I must have overexerted myself yesterday with the cherry blossoms at the old Imperial Palace, because my cold seems to be getting worse again today. Sigh.

Anthony started his final year of preschool earlier this week, comparable to kindergarten in The States. Dropping him off on the first day, I noticed a beautiful tree lush with deep pink blossoms of some sort....

However, upon close inspection, it turned out that the day of rain Kyoto had just after full bloom in my area had left the blossoms on this tree looking downright ratty...

However, the carpet of rain-flattened blossoms did [...]

Of course, I was somewhat exaggerating with my previous post, Just Like That, Kyoto's Cherry-Blossom Season Ends, because cherry-blossom season doesn't end the day after full bloom any more than blowing out the first candle on a cake ends a birthday party. The weather – very strong haze and occasional rain – isn't nearly as nice as the weekend was, but there's still plenty of Cherry-Blossom Joie de Vivre left in Kyoto.

I realized this morning that I'd neglected to revisit the trees on the grounds of the Old Imperial Palace that were featured in a post three weeks ago [...]

The main cherry blossoms were clearly past their peak this morning, quickly helped along by a soaking rain that arrived mid-morning and lasted all day. The wind and rain combined to create a carpet of blossoms anywhere a tree was near.

That pretty much sealed the end of Kyoto's cherry-blossom season this year, just a tad earlier than last year. No more full bloom in Kyoto, no more joie de vivre, no more evening cherry-blossom lightup. Of course, I have plenty of photos from the weekend and from this morning before the rain, so I have stock for later posts, [...]