Japanese Garden

Springtime Stroll

Last night, the Missouri Botanical Garden offered a somewhat rare opportunity…they had special evening hours to allow the community a chance to see some of their beautiful spring blooms, particularly the cherry blossoms in the Japanese Garden. Outside of special events, we don’t really get a chance to visit the Garden as the sun is going down, so it was a real treat to be there at that time of day, and the flowers were beautiful!

It was nice to see such a big crowd in attendance…I felt like I was getting a good idea of what it might be like for cherry blossom viewing in Japan, or at the very least, in Washington D.C.!

2018 Japanese Festival

Last year, I went into great detail about all the things we saw at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Japanese Festival. This year, I’m just going to share pictures…lots of pictures! This continues to be my second-favorite event at the Garden…the Garden Glow will always be my very favorite!

Chickadee Thursday

It was unusually warm here this morning (in the 60s!), but that’s set to change dramatically this afternoon/evening, so I decided we should sneak in a trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden while we had the chance. There was a little rain when we first got there, and Chickadee loves any excuse to use an umbrella!

The rained cleared up quickly, and we had a very pleasant walk around the Garden. We especially loved stopping in the Japanese Garden to observe the ducks and geese…Chickadee was very entertained by them!

The Drum Bridge Through the Year

I never did decide on just one angle for my Drum Bridge photos this year, so I have two galleries to share, and I love them both! The changes throughout the year were very obvious, and I am always struck by the awesome beauty of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Japanese Garden!

Seriously, there is truly no bad place from which to photograph this bridge, and every season has its own unique beauty, from snow to changing leaves, and everything in between!

I’m already looking forward to photographing the Linnean House monthly next year!

The Drum Bridge–December

And just like that, another year of taking pictures at the Missouri Botanical Garden comes to an end. I’ve really enjoyed watching the scenery around the Drum Bridge in the Japanese Garden change throughout the year, and I’m excited about next year’s photo project…stay tuned!

The Drum Bridge–October

I can’t believe I’m already 10 months into taking photos of the Drum Bridge this year! I also can’t believe that it’s October 10th, and it doesn’t look even remotely like fall…

The Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden

When you see the flag of Japan flying at the Missouri Botanical Garden, you know something exciting is happening!

We have been meaning to go to the Japanese Festival for the last few years, but something always got in the way. This year (the 40th anniversary of the Japanese Garden), however, I was determined that we were going to be there, and I am glad we were!

We got to see a cool bonsai demonstration:

And also a cool ikebana, or floral arranging, demonstration:

When we went outside, we found an amezaiku artist. Not just a candy craftsman, he also did magic tricks and oragami…he made Chickadee a frog!

The koinobori (carp windsock) display is apparently a big deal in Japan, and they were everywhere!

The festival processional included an Omikoshi (a portable Shinto shrine), a Bon Odori (summer festival dancing) group, and a Dashi (a portable float with a drum pulled by children from the Japanese language school).

We saw the art of Koma-Mawashi (top spinning). Dr. Tada can turn just about anything into a top!

The opening ceremony was held in the beautiful Japanese Garden, Seiwa-En. While we were there, we heard the taiko drums (my favorite part!) and witnessed the kagamiwari (opening of the sake barrel).

We went to a large-scale calligraphy demonstration (Shodo), by Seiran Chiba in the Garden’s theater:

While we didn’t get a good view of the ice sculpture as it was being made, we did get to see the finished product!

One of the best parts of the day was seeing Luck Eisa and St. Louis Okinawa Eisa perform their beautiful drum and folk dance routines.

And a highlight of those performances was the Shishi-Mai (lion dance)!

We also saw a karate demonstration:

I was amazed by the crowds at the Garden. Everywhere we went, whether at the demonstrations, shopping in the market, or at the food tents, there were masses of people, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were!

This is a huge event. I had no idea there would be so many things to see, and yet we didn’t get to see even close to everything! There were also cooking demonstrations, a kimono fashion show, a rakugo performance, gaku music, and a candlelight walk in the Japanese Garden after the sun went down. Hopefully, we’ll get to experience some of those things next year…and we also know to bring more money, so we can try some of the amazing Japanese food that was being prepared in the “food court!”