April 28, 2014

Kamakura Sakura Gaoka Koen/かまくら桜ヶ丘公園

Kamakura Sakura Gaoka Koen is another wonderful place to visit if you want to do hanami (cherry blossom viewing) in Minami-Uonuma city.
Today, I went there by car to do some hanami early in the morning. I reached there at around 6:50.
南魚沼市で花見をするとしたら、かまくら桜ヶ丘公園も素晴らしい場所です。
今日、朝早く車で花見をしに行って来ました。6:50頃に着きました。

I should have said that I reached one end of this very long park with a total length of 800 m (half a mile).
全長800 mの長い公園の一端に着いたと言うべきでした。

There was only one restroom for both men and women.
トイレは男女兼用のが一つあるだけでした。
The sign says, "800 m from the starting point".
「起点より800 M」と書かれています。



This park was created along the 4-km long Kamakura Zawa River, which is a branch of the Uono River, which is a branch of the Shinano River, the longest river in Japan.
この公園は全長4 kmの鎌倉沢川(かまくらざわがわ)に沿って作られたもので、この川は魚野川(うおのがわ)の支流で、魚野川は信濃川(日本で一番長い川)の支流です。
The history of sabo (erosion and sediment control) for the Kamakura Zawa River is written here.
鎌倉沢川の砂防の歴史が書かれています。


You can learn a lot about the history from this video if you understand Japanese.
日本語が分かれば、このビデオでその歴史について色々と学べます。

Did I reach the other end of this park?
公園のもう一方の端に着いたかって?
Not yet. I had walked this far,
まだです。ここまで歩いてきましたが、
and I still had some more to go.
まだもう少しあります。


Not yet ready for people to sit in.
まだ人が座れるよう準備できていませんでした。


I finally reached the other end!
ようやくもう一方の端に着きました!
On my way back, I enjoyed different views.
帰り道は、また別の景色を楽しみました。


In the park, there were stone markers for the major mountains you can view from there.
Makihata Yama
公園には、ここから見える主な山の石碑がありました。
巻機山(まきはたやま) 
Makihata Yama (Mount Makihata) is one of the 100 Famous Mountains in Japan.
巻機山は日本百名山の一つです。

Kinjo San:
金城山(きんじょうさん):
At the foot of this mountain is located a zen temple, Untoan.
この山の麓(ふもと)には禅寺(ぜんでら)雲洞庵(うんとうあん)があります。

Komagatake:
駒ヶ岳(こまがたけ):
There are several mountains with this name in Japan. To clearly distinguish it from the others, the mountain is sometimes called Echigo Komagatake. Echigo is a former name of Niigata.
日本のは駒ヶ岳という名の山がいくつかあり、はっきり区別するため、越後駒ヶ岳という場合があります。越後とは新潟の昔の名前です。

Nakanodake:
中ノ岳(なかのだけ):
Hakkaisan:
八海山(はっかいさん):
Hakkaisan is also the name of a brand of the sake brewery (Hakkai Brewery) located near the mountain.
八海山とは、この山の近くにある酒蔵(八海醸造)の銘柄でもあります。



The last three mountains, (Echigo) Komagatake, Nakanodake, and Hakkaisan, are collectively called Echigo Sanzan.
この3つの山、(越後)駒ヶ岳、中ノ岳、八海岳は、合わせて越後三山(えちごさんざん)と呼ばれます。



I found some sansai (edible wild plants) there, including gishigishi (Japanese dock).
山菜を幾つか見つけました。例えば、ギシギシ:
The young buds are edible.
若芽が食べられます。

Japanese knotweed:
イタドリ:
A reddish variety of knotweed:
赤っぽい品種のイタドリ:

6 comments:

Annie's Journal said...

There must be a lot of bees visiting the blossoms too:) We're learning a lot from your blog post and appreciate the beauty around your area!BTW, we also enjoy ギシギシ to wrap flavoured rice, like you make sushi, then, pan fry or steam it. It's delicious but mustn't eat a lot of it as it's heavy for the liver.

Hiroyuki said...

Simple Living: It's exactly because I had seen a photo of dock leaves in your blog earlier that I wanted to include a photo of Japanese dock leaves (laugh)!

By the way, I like the title of your blog, Simple Living. Maybe I should rename my blog to Humble Living (laugh).

Tea Apprentice said...

Beautiful! Are there times when these parks are very crowded for hanami? Your pictures show almost no people in them, but maybe that is just because you went at 6:50am. I have seen other people's pictures of hanami where it is very crowded. I wonder if I would enjoy it less if it were so crowded.

Hiroyuki said...

Tea Apprentice: I think there are some people who do hanami there in the daytime and the nighttime. On that particular morning, I saw several people talking a walk there. Notice that this park is located in a rural area of Japan. If it was transported to an urban area, it should be swarmed with people, particularly in the nighttime.

Tea Apprentice said...

I see. I must admit that I don't know much about many areas of Japan. I have just started reading the English translation of the book _Snow Country Tales_ because you mentioned it in one of your posts. I will learn a lot! So far the snowiest parts of Japan I have been to are Matsumoto and Shin-hotaka. I used to think 'snow country' meant Hokkaido =P

Hiroyuki said...

Tea Apprentice: Oh, you bought that book? Incredible!