Peony garden, ca. 1890s, by Kusakabe Kimbei, via Museum of Photographic Arts on flickr.
Category: Asian gardens
Wordless Wednesday: temple garden
In Japan or Korea, 1908, by Arnold Genthe, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Vintage landscape: woodland teahouse
“Tea house in a woodland, Itsuku-Shima, Japan,” between 1890 and 1923, photographer unknown, via the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The garden may be on Itsukushima Island (now called Miyajima).
I’m sorry there was no Sunday porch two days ago; there was also no weekend internet service in our house.
What carols, like the blazon of a king,
Fill all the dawn with wonder?
Oh, hush,
It is the thrush,
In the deep and woody glen!— Edwin Markham, from “A Lyric of the Dawn“
Vintage landscape: Tokyo hanami
“Cherry Flower-Street, at Mukojima, Tokio,” ca. 1880s -90s, by Kimbei Kusakabe, via The New York Public Library Commons.
There’s a good article on the 2014 cherry blossom viewing (hanami) in Tokyo — which starts this week — here.
The arrival of the cherry blossom is keenly anticipated, with round-the-clock news reports providing updates on exactly where and when the fabled flowers will appear alongside all manner of sakura-themed promotions. Advertisements currently on display in the Tokyo Metro suggest that drinking Kirin beer will enhance the hanami experience, and should you be feeling peckish, McDonald’s has helpfully introduced a “cherry blossom burger”, complete with “pink buns”.
— Adrian Bridge, The Telegraph
*Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs. A cherry blossom photo from the same collection here.
Vintage landscape: Tokyo
Akasaka, Tokyo, ca. 1890s, photographer unknown. The image is part of “The Album of Photographs of Japan,” via The New York Public Library* Commons on flickr.
Cherry blossoms (sakura) in Tokyo are expected to open on March 30 this year, with the peak bloom being about April 6 to 15.
In Washington, D.C., The National Cherry Blossom Festival will begin on Thursday, March 20, and continue through April 13. Click here and here for more information on events and local accommodations.
The Washington Post has predicted this year’s peak bloom to be about April 9.
*Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.
enclos*ure 