The Ritsurin Garden is a place of cultural significance in Japan and the Michelin Star folks gave it three stars and said it is worth a special trip to this area just for the gardens. We agree fully. The gardens are delightful and the lakes in the garden are stunning. We even took the tourist boat and had our Japanese boatman pole us around the lakes. There were cherry trees in full bloom. There were meticulously pruned pine trees on the grounds and on the islands. There were red bridges, wooden bridges, stone walkways and stone bridges over the water. The Koi fish were plentiful as well as colorful. The gardens are amazing and recognized as such so that there were 15 or 20 school groups touring the gardens at the same time as us.
Our street car to the gardens
We watched the engineer get on the train and get situated
The engineer brought this tool with him. It is a wood handled brass "key" that unlocks the mechanism that makes the train move
A good crowd
Yikes spikes!
Everywhere in Japan there is a shrine
Some of the blossoms have already fallen now that we have traveled south
But there are still blooms to spare
Yes we are going in the right direction
This Koi was one of our favorites
These pine trees had been planted in 1908 by the crown prince
One of three red bridges
The biggest bridge in the park was surprisingly hard to walk on
Chomp chomp chomp
The azalea over Leslies shoulder naturally grew into a heart shape
Great stone work
We climbed a small hill to get this view
So peaceful
Practicing the latest pose
A pagoda
Renting the Kimonos for photoshoots is rampant
The boatman is trying to drum up some business
The umbrellas are a great touch
Postcard moment
Red headed turtle
Red bridge #2
A mass of knotted pine
A stone bridge
Still in bloom
A fine day to wander the gardens
Cat attack!
Wild flowers
Heron
Old Japanese buildings
Yikes!
A mock up of a shrine that would be carried during feativals
A picture of the full sized item
Fans over the years
Some example of local crafts
Lacquered disks
Tigers! Oh my
Fish on your head dragon
Expansive
Elaborate dragon
Time for our boat trip
Konnichiwa
Looking authentic
A low bridge
Everyone had to duck
The boat driver spoke only Japanese on the tour
But a few times he broke into English just for us
The water was so calm
The sun was shining so bright
Ferns
Some of the pines needed extra support
Pine in shadow
The island of eternal youth
Maple leaf
Soft shell turtles
The tea house
A shrine in the distance
This huge tree was a bonsai that got loose. It was given to a feudal lord buy a shogun back int eh Edo Period. It now id 8 meters tall and 3,5 meters in circumference
Poling around
Rock garden
The tea house was serving tea at the time
More fine pines
Another bridge
We found a place to buy fish food
I think they liked it
The Flag of Japan fish
One of the guides pointed it out to the crowd
At the back end of the park
Bigger trees
Fewer Koi
Still kimonos
And turtles
A stepping she will go
Only one water lily
A huge expanse of dead reeds
A patch of yellow flowers
The open field where most of the school groups ended up
Tired travelers
Another lake
With a pagoda
Yet another pine forest
The turtle rock
An old duck blind
Shoot from here
Lure the ducks in here
Oink and moo
Udon!
Dried Sardines tie tack
Fashionable
Walking back to the train we pass garden after garden
Many blooms
Pink and red
A gorilla liquor store!
A garden gate
Lily of the valleys
Trolly!
Back for sunset
The bridge that we took on the train two bays before
Time for get dinner
Sashimi platter
Fried dumplings
The shrimp was raw
But the mackerel was pickled like I like it
yes they do have gin
It is time to call it a night
A great light show every night
