This was not really a part of the itinerary. In fact, we weren’t even aware of it. But walking around and following paths aimlessly always leads somewhere, and Maruyama Kouen was where we found ourselves in when we followed a road leading to the back of Yasaka Shrine. And, yes, we were just looking for a place to have a leisurely walk in (and by that, I mean LESS CROWD) while dressed in traditional kimono. Haha!
I have to get this out of the way first:
On my few trips to parks in South Korea, particularly in Jeju, I noticed how old men and women were actively taking brisk walks and jogs around the area, soaking in the fresh air while keeping their limbs, well, limber, I suppose. In this particular park in Kyoto, what I spotted most were old men, toting hugeass, high-end cameras. SRSLY. I also saw some over at Minoh Park in Osaka. They seem to be really really dead serious about it. Just look at this group of ojiisans taking a photo of a lady model. (I am assuming she’s a model if she allows that much cameras to be photographing her!)
Oh, and it was also a couple of ojiisans who offered to take a photo of my friend and I together in our kimono. Sweet, these old men. 🙂
Now that I got that out of the way…. let’s get to it, shall we?
Here’s the road that separates Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Kouen (kouen means “park”, by the way, if you don’t already know that). This park is quite old, and was once the site for several temples, until fires consumed them. Then it was formally opened to the public as a park in 1886. That means this has been a park for more than a century already!
Going up the lane…… behold the famous shidarezakura, or the “giant” weeping cherry tree of Maruyama Kouen. This is said to be the centerpiece of this Park, which also happens to be the most famous spot of hanami or cherry blossom viewing during springtime. It is said that this place gets especially crowded during sakura season, and I can only imagine how it’ll look like. It’s definitely bound to be glorious!
Also, this tall weeping cherry tree gets lit up at night, thus turning the place into another famous illumination spot.
Right across the shidarezakura is a duck pond with an elevated Seiko clock in front of it. Off to the side are benches and small food stalls. Pigeons also happen to be at their leisure in the area.
Yes, it is already 35 minutes past 10. 🙂
The layout resembles that of a Chinese garden, so there are walkways, bridges, and ponds. This is the main duck pond.
Crossing the bridge will bring you to the more… shall we say, “nature-oriented” side of the park.
As we walked around, we came upon these two statues.
They are Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro.
They are two samurais who hailed from Kochi and actively fought to bring down the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Bakumatsu Period. Unfortunately, they were both assassinated in 1867 in what is now known as the Omiya Incident. Sakamoto was just 31 (but he has already been hailed as the “father of the Imperial Japanese Navy”) and Nakaoka was only 29. So young.
I read a bit about them and boy, did I get major tingles! It also called to mind some Rurouni Kenshin references. 🙂
We made our way back round to the shidarezakura so we could get back to the Yasaka Jinja and exit the place. Before we did, however, we stole photos of this “samurai musician” who set up shop in front of the weeping cherry tree.
He sells recordings of his flute-playing. As indicated in the photo below, the 70-minute 8-track CD of his Japanese Bamboo Flute playing costs 1500 JPY.
If you ever find yourself in Yasaka Shrine, or planning on visiting the Shrine, make it a point to visit Maruyama Kouen. It’s RIGHT BEHIND the Shrine, barely even a 5-minute walk! In fact, I thought it was still part of the Shrine, and it never occurred to me that it was a separate place, until I did some reading. Jackpot.
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