Kanazawa's famous Kenrokuen Garden in spring

cherry blossoms over stream--Kenrokuen Garden

One of Japan’s 3 most famous gardens is in Kanazawa, the Kenrokuen Garden.  It spans 25 acres, with hundreds of trees, including dozens of pines and cherry trees, blooming shrubs and flowers, and several lakes.  It is a treasure.

pine tree growing over pond

The garden is meticulously maintained.  Ladders lean high against the tallest pine trees where pruners carefully cut off any needle or clump of needles that hangs down towards the ground, so that all the needles point to the sky.  In the fall, when we were last here, the lower trunks of the trees were wrapped with reed sheets.  When it gets really cold, the insects that damage the trees move towards the ground where it is warmer.  They winter over in the reed matting, which is removed and burned in the spring before the bugs have time to reproduce.

carefully tended roots of large pine tree

Large branches of the pine trees are supported by posts so that they don’t break during the heavy winter snows that have just melted in Kanazawa.  Some pines are trained out over the lakes with their huge, curving branches held up over the water by posts.  This is gardening with precision and high artistry.

white cherry blossoms

cherry blossoms in stream

The cherry trees are blooming beautifully right now.  There are over 400 kinds of cherry trees, with many varieties in Kenrokuen so that the flowers come at slightly different times and fill the sky with pink and white blossoms.  There is a dusting of blossoms from the earlier bloomers covering the ground and edges of the ponds like pink snowflakes.

water fall and small shrine

Water to feed the lakes and fountains comes from the surrounding mountains.  As a result, the fountains are gravity-fed—the water in the fountain gushes as high as the lake that feeds it.

weeping cherry tree

 

Since it’s spring, thousands of visitors fill the garden, taking selfies in front of the gorgeous cherry trees and enjoying the beauty of Kenrokuen.  Now that there is a bullet train from Tokyo to Kanazawa, there are likely to be many more visitors from Tokyo (a metropolis of about 13 million people), even those who come just for the day.