Early Cherry Blossoms in Miurakaigan

The Miurakaigan Cherry Blossom Festival

A morning cloudburst cancelled the cultural outing to the Miurakaigan Cherry Blossom Festival I was planning to attend. But I am no fair weather blossom chaser! Off I went on my own. Actually, that’s not really true—I am a fair weather blossom chaser. But the sun was out and shining, my family wouldn’t go over the weekend, and I needed to see some early cherry blossoms! I didn’t come all the way back to Japan to skip sakura festivals!

I hopped onto the train and followed the crowds out of the Miurakaigan Station. I stopped to buy my family some sakura cookies, plus some onegiri and sakura green tea for my lunch. Then I wandered under the blossoms for hours. It was a very windy day (10 days ago! Also windy today) and flower petals were blowing all over the place. Birds squawked and trilled, flitting through the branches. The train gliding by under pink branches generated lots of photos and happy photographers. Kids reached high. Ladies took countless photos of their well-dressed dogs and pushed them around the park in strollers. The sun was warm, the blossoms were at their peak, and everything seemed right with the world. What a wonderful time to be in Japan.

Take the Keikyu Line toward Misakiguchi. Get off at Miurakaigan Station and walk toward Komatsugaike Park. Follow the blossoms!

The Legend of Omatsugaike Marsh

“A tale is told about the area and the villagers from a long time ago concerning the marsh.

Once upon a time when this area was still divided into many small rice fields, there was a hard working wife by the name of Omatsu who worked diligently planting rice.

Omatsu’s spiteful mother-in-law demanded Omatsu to work in the field planting rice which was an impossible task for her to do all alone.

Already the sun was starting to set in the west, but Omatsu was not yet finished planting the rice. The perplexed Omatsu looked up at the sky and wailed, ‘If I just had another hour, I could finish the rice planting!’ Then something strange happened. Suddenly the sun that had been starting to set in the west rose high in the sky back to the east. Thanks to this, Omatsu was able to finish all of the rice planting. After that, however, the entire area became a deep, muddy marsh, and Omatsu was swallowed up in all the water.

After that, heavy rain continued the rest of the year, and so this whole area that you see became this large marsh.”