Sankeien (Sankei Garden)

The last leg of our Tokyo (and surrounding areas) tour with A&W was Yokohama. We spent the whole of today around Yokohama, beginning with a visit to Sankei Garden (Sankeien).

I never heard of Sankeien until yesterday night when A&W mentioned that they wanted to see it during our Yokohama trip today. They found out about it from japan-guide.com, which lists Sankeien as one of the top attractions in Yokohama.

To get there, we took the train from Yokohama to Negishi (via the JR Negishi line). Then we took a bus from Negishi to Honmoku and then walked to Sankeien from the bus stop (5-10-minute leisurely walk).

walking through a quiet neighborhood to get to Sankeien

map of the garden

the main pond

a duck by the main pond! :)

Yatsuhashi bridge

Sankeien-Tenmangu

Kanshinbashi bridge
(and the Three-Storied Pagoda from afar - the oldest pagoda in the Kanto region)

Main Hall of Old Tomyoji

Taishunken

Buddhist Sanctum of Old Tokeiji

Yokobuean
"The Yokobuean is a country-style tea arbor and it is so named because in this arbor, there was a statue of Yokobue, a famous heroine of a famous love story."

image of priestess enshrined in Yokobuean

Hatsunejaya
Text on the left reads: "The Nobel prize winning Indian poet Tagor, famous Japanese literary Ryunosuke Akutagawa and many others have visited this arbor. In the autumn of 1915, Akutagawa composed the haiku poem on his impressions when he enjoyed tea in the arbor."

Hatsunejaya

the Three-Storied Pagoda of Old Tomjoji
"This pagoda was moved to the garden in 1914 from the Tomyoji Temple in Kamo Village, Soraku District in Kyoto. Tomyoji is a temple which was built under the Emperor Shomu in 735. Surveys indicate that this pagoda was built (in the) Muromachi period because of its style. It is the oldest pagoda in the Kanto region."

Syusse Kannon

I actually misplaced my copy of garden's brochure/guide map, but was happy to find out that a downloadable .pdf version was available online (in English, here), which helped me identify the different structures in the garden.

There wasn't too much to see in Sankeien, and we didn't go around the whole area as we had time constraints. However, I would still like to come back here during hanami season. The park is home to a lot of cherry & plum trees -- would be lovely to see the flowers in bloom, in a clean & tranquil setting like Sankei Garden.

butterfly sighting!

During my walk to the supermarket:

up close

It's that time of year...

...when my husband's Nihongo sensei teaches his class how to make an origami Santa. :)

Here's origami Santa Claus again (with buttons on his coat at a ball on his hat this time).

And here's Santa Claus with Mrs. Claus! ♥

Ho ho ho!


(origami Santa and Mrs. Claus and photos, all by Ronjie)

P.S. Shake! :D

missing Atsugi

I'm blogging from Manila now. These are some random photos taken in Atsugi which I wasn't able to post last month.

Dogs! ♥ Candid photos of dogs at Bousai no Oka Park :)

Hairy brown dachshund

Our visually-impaired neighbor with his seeing-eye labrador

There's a small park near the building where I attend Nihongo class every Saturday morning. This is the scene I usually pass on my way home.

Just before leaving Japan, I caught these bright buds (?) in the sidewalk planters in downtown Atsugi. Pretty! :) I wonder what the planters will have for me when I get back.

what do you call these?

Bousai no Oka Park

Last Sunday, we biked to nearby (30 minutes) Bousai no Oka Park for 11:00am mass with other church community members from our neighboring Kanagawa parishes. The mass was concelebrated by 6 priests (or 8?) from the Atsugi, Yamato, etc. churches.

food stalls galore

This is a photo-heavy post.

August is festival season in Japan! There was a street parade and a lot of food stalls in downtown Atsugi a couple of weeks ago. Ronjie and I just got surprised one day when we saw all these stalls everywhere. I don't really know what was being celebrated or what the occasion was but I enjoyed observing all the mass food production going on. :D

This is an okonomiyaki stall. Snapped the most photos here but didn't buy from them. Ehehe. Can be shameless sometimes. :D

Takoyaki up next! Was tempted to buy but didn't.

Shawarma! Eto, bumili na talaga kami. We asked the guy if he had a place (restaurant or something) in Atsugi. He didn't daw; he just comes over when he's invited for events like this. Check out his cool wheels. It's a real vehicle!

chicken shawarma (naubusan kami ng beef)

It wasn't just all food stalls, there were some game & prize stalls too. Like this turtle one. Not exactly sure what you have to do here though.

That's it. :)