{"id":408,"date":"2007-03-30T23:16:45","date_gmt":"2007-03-30T14:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-03-30\/408"},"modified":"2007-04-10T00:19:40","modified_gmt":"2007-04-09T15:19:40","slug":"night-cherry-blossoms-in-the-gion-area-of-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-03-30\/408","title":{"rendered":"Night Cherry Blossoms in the Gion area of Kyoto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

The dinner party<\/a> I\nwent<\/span> to yesterday was right in the middle of Gion<\/a>, Kyoto's traditional area\nfor maiko and geisha.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nWe ate at a simple okonomiyaki<\/a> restaurant\non the Shirakawa river (the river that runs next to my place, but a\nkilometer<\/span> downstream), just off a street<\/span> whose name translates, literally,\nto “Cherry-Blossom-Viewing Lane”. The immediate<\/span> area has a lot<\/span> of\ntraditional architecture, cobblestone streets, and the river overhung with\ncherry trees just starting to blossom, so you can imagine the photographic\npotential.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nSo can everyone else, which is why I was<\/span> surprised that it wasn't super\ncrowded. I'm sure that<\/span>'ll change next week as the blossoms really start to\ncome in.\n\n<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4— 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>Shirakawa River, in the Gion area of Kyoto<\/span><\/div>\n\n

The picture above is from one end of a bridge<\/span> going over the river, and\nis pretty much what you see when you step out of the restaurant. The trees<\/span> along the right are mostly-bare cherry trees, with some spatterings of\nblossoms.<\/p>\n\n

Moving to the right, over the bridge I was<\/span> standing on, and the trees\nthat had been on the right are on the left, with the milling crowds now on\nthe right.....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>90 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>South Shirakawa Street, in Gion<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n

Heading down the street a bit brings us to this tree in the front garden\nof a restaurant.<\/span>..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>Mostly-Empty “Shidarezakura” Tree<\/span><\/div>\n\n

The tree is nicely lit up, but still without blossoms. It's of the<\/span>\n“shidarezakura” variety, which is essentially a cherry<\/span> tree like a weeping<\/span>\nwillow.<\/p>\n\n

Across the street again, and down a bit<\/span> further, one of the trees\noverhanging the river has some blossoms, and an ever-changing throng of\npeople snapping pictures of it.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>At this point, any blossoms are photographed blossoms<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n

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

Here's a closeup, looking to one of the restaurants lining the other\nside of the river.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>40 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n\n

\n\nEven with ISO at 640 and f\/1.4, it was still a 1\/40th second shot, and so\nit's not very sharp. Of course, I should<\/span> have had a tripod<\/span> if I wanted<\/span> a\nclear<\/span> shot, but I didn't<\/span> have one with me. <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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

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. <\/p>

So can everyone else, which is why I was surprised that it wasn't super [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}