When the cherry blossoms bloomed They brought beauty to my heart. Tatsu-jo¹
Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Image SOURCE: Google Images
A Personal Note
This article in the New York Times 4/9/2016 paid for and posted by The Embassy of Japan, cited, below, had reminded me of the Japan Cultural Center in Haifa, Israel neighboring the Dan Carmel Hotel on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.
My biography had intercepted Japanese Garden Designs and Japanese Ikebana flower arrangement, since 1965 to Present.
Tour with me the stops I named, below, while watching Japanese natural beauty or Japanese Man Made Nature in miniatures, including my visit to Japan, 5/2004.
In 1969, I took a course in Japanese Flower Arrangement, offered by a Japanese ikebana practitioner at Japan Cultural Center in Haifa, Israel. The Center had inside a bonsai collection and new Ikabana Arrangements were on display in the Building window in front of a black background behind the lit glass. I had great joy of looking at that window. My High School, Huggim was on Mount Carmel and I had many opportunities to visit this center, 1965-1968.
While an undergraduate student at HUJI, on Senior year a took a course on Japan during the Meiji Period and wrote a Paper (Seminarion Thesis) on Japanese Education System Reform in the late 19th Century under Professor Ben-Ami Shillony, HUJI.
Since 1978, I lived in California twice, and visited many times Japanese Gardens.
- 9/1978 to 9/1990 in Palo Alto, CA while a PhD Student at University of California, Berkeley, 9/1978 t0 12/1983.
My son was born in San Francisco. 1981 was a year, I was in the city every month or twice a month, several times visiting the Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate Park, Fan Francisco.
Japanese Tea Garden, the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States located inside Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. Tea Garden celebrated on Monday, April 4th, 2016 in horn or of Golden Gate Park’s 146th Birthday
http://japaneseteagardensf.com/
Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
Moved to Boston in 8/1990 and I enjoy the Zen Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts.
Dedicated in October 1988, Tenshin-en, or the “Garden of the Heart of Heaven,” is a contemplative Japanese garden. Named for the Museum’s curator of Chinese and Japanese Art, Kakuzō Okakura (known in Japan as Okakura Kakuzō and also as Okakura Tenshin), who worked at the MFA from 1904 until his death in 1913, Tenshin-en was designed as a viewing garden in the karesansui style by the late Professor Kinsaku Nakane of Kyoto.
http://www.mfa.org/collections/featured-galleries/japanese-garden-tenshin-en
Boston’s The Bonsai & Penjing Collection
The Larz Anderson Collection of Japanese Dwarfed Trees at the Arnold Arboretum was originally imported into the United States by the Honorable Larz Anderson in 1913, upon his return from serving as ambassador to Japan. In April 1937, Isabel Anderson donated the majority of her late husband’s bonsai collection (30 plants) to the Arnold Arboretum, along with the funds necessary to build a shade house for their display. The rest of the Anderson bonsai came to the Arboretum following Isabel’s death in 1949. Records of the Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection [pdf] documents the history and maintenance of this collection.
SEE 12 Bonsai Species
http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/plants/featured-plants/bonsai/
- 5/2002 – 9/2004 I lived in Monterey, CA while working for McGraw-Hill.
Japanese Garden, Monterey, CA
My trip to Florida in 12/2000, involved a visit to Morikami Museum, Del Ray, FL
Morikami’s gardens, named Roji-en: Garden of the Drops of Dew, were designed to be a living exhibit complementing the museum. Here in Roji-en, designer Hoichi Kurisu sought to create a garden complex for the new millennium. Its six distinct gardens are inspired by, but are not replicas of, famous gardens of Japan. Kurisu has created a unique garden conceived and constructed in the spirit of the masters.
My trip with HLA to Vancouver, BC, Canada, 4/2002 – Nitobe Garden
Nitobe Memorial Garden, a traditional Japanese Tea and Stroll garden located at the University of British Columbia. Nitobe Garden is considered to be the one of the most authentic Japanese gardens in North America and among the top five Japanese gardens outside of Japan. Nitobe Garden includes a rare authentic Tea Garden with a ceremonial Tea House.
“I am in Japan,” said Akihito, Crown Prince (now Emperor) of Japan as he walked through UBC’s renowned Nitobe Memorial Garden. The exquisite work of art was created out of one hectare (two-and-a-half acres) of pristine forest by landscape architects and gardeners recommended by the Government of Japan.
The garden honours Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933) whose goal was “to become a bridge across the Pacific.” Among many other memorials to him is his portrait on the 5000 yen note.
http://botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/visit/nitobe-memorial-garden/
Image SOURCE: Google Images
My Trip with HLA to Ichimura Miami-Japan Garden 12/2001
In 1957, Mr. Kiyoshi Ichimura, Founder of Ricoh Corporation of Japan, attended a camera exhibition and show in the United States. On his way from Japan to the exhibition, he stopped in Miami. Looking east from his hotel room, he was stunned by the beauty of the city. He noticed one nearby area of land that appeared vacant and idle.
Mr. Ichimura remarked to the American gentleman standing next to him that it would be wonderful if hundreds of cherry trees could be planted there with a great number of standing lanterns interspersed among them. The American gentleman, who happened to be a Miami city commissioner, responded to the remark with a question, “Are you willing to donate them?” Mr. Ichimura answered without hesitation,”Yes, any time, if you wish.”
Soon after, Mr. Ichimura received a phone call from the Mayor of Miami inquiring about the seriousness of his remarks. The Mayor reportedly said, “We will accept your gift wholeheartedly; however, we will need some preparation time to be ready to accept such a generous gift.”
The following year, when Mr. Ichimura attended the camera show, he again stopped in Miami and took the opportunity to present to the City of Miami an intended list of gifts. Sadly, it was determined that the climate in Miami was unsuited for cherry trees and furthermore that cherry trees could possibly carry a bacteria that prohibited their importation.
http://friendsofjapanesegarden.com/history/
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My Trip with my sister to Washing DC, 4/2002 and 4/2012
We took a boat tour on the Potomac River to see the Cherry blossom in 360 degrees
David Coleman Photography / Washington DC
http://images.havecamerawilltravel.com/#!/index/G0000XEn0haQW8qg
VIEW 50 IMAGES of Cherry Blossom in Washington, DC by David Coleman Photography
http://images.havecamerawilltravel.com/#!/index/G0000XEn0haQW8qg/I000059QjG9gSSBs
http://cherryblossomwatch.com/
My trip with HLA to Japan, 5/2005, involved visits to Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Osaka
Japanese Garden in Kyoto
Image SOURCE: Google Images
Japanese Garden in Kobe
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3560.html
Japanese Garden in Nara
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4114.html
Japanese Garden in Osaka
Image SOURCE: Google Images
My visit Saratoga, CA – Hakone Garden, 1/2015
One of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s premier sites and 100 years old, Hakone is one of the oldest Japanese estate, retreat and gardens in the Western Hemisphere. Hakone has also been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2013. 18 acres of magnificent beauty is nestled in the verdant hills of Saratoga overlooking Silicon Valley.
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Celebrate Art in Bloom with Ikebana MFA, Boston, 4/2016
April 30, 2016
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Barbara and Theodore Alfond Auditorium (Auditorium G36), MFA
Floral designers from the three Ikebana Schools—Ikenobo, Sogetsu and Ohara—creating designs showcasing the design concepts of their particular school.
http://www.mfa.org/programs/special-event/celebrate-art-in-bloom-with-ikebana
National Cherry Blossom Festival 2016
The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC
Every year in Washington, DC, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is held to welcome spring and celebrate the friendship between Japan and the US. All kinds of performances, events and activities are planned during the Festival’s three-week span. But you have to wonder, how did all of this get started?
The answer takes us back to 1912, the 45th year of the Meiji Emperor’s reign. That year the Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, gifted 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, DC as a symbol of the friendship between the two nations. Ms. Eliza Scidmore, the author of a travel journal who was deeply impressed by the beauty of the cherry blossoms at Mukoujima in Tokyo, had campaigned for years to have them brought to DC. Along with Dr. Joukichi Takamine, famous for his work on adrenaline and the enzyme taka-diastase and a long-time friend of America, she urged First Lady Helen Taft to have the trees planted along the Potomac. Now every year the public parks along the banks of the Potomac River in Washington are covered in gorgeous blooming trees, delighting the public who come to see them.
The first festival commemorating the gift from Japan and the friendship it represented was held in 1927. Now it has grown into the largest such celebration in America, welcoming more than 1.5 million visitors each year. The Opening Ceremony in particular, with its captivating performances from artists representing both Japan and the US, enjoys a high degree of popularity both locally and abroad in Japan. The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade and the Sakura Matsuri – Japanese Street Festival, held together on the final day of the festival, also draw packed crowds.
Helpful links: National Cherry Blossom Festival | Sakura Matsuri – Japanese Street Festival
Celebrating a Treasured Friendship – New York Times 4/9/2016 article
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Explore the rich history behind this international festival, and find one near you. |
In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gave 3,000 cherry blossom trees to Washington, D.C., as symbols of friendship, forever changing the springtime vistas of the nation’s capital. Three years later, the United States reciprocated by sending dogwood saplings to Japan, deepening the ties between the two countries.
Beginning in the 1920s, the trees’ spectacular blooming inspired celebrations of international friendship and spring renewal, evolving into today’s city-wide, multi-week National Cherry Blossom Festival. Cared for by the National Park Service, the trees’ famously breathtaking, yet fleeting, display is found surrounding the Tidal Basin, lining the Potomac River and enhancing the Washington Monument grounds.
A vibrant expression of the bond between the U.S. and Japan, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is renowned as the “nation’s greatest springtime celebration,” according to festival President Diana Mayhew. “We’ll never forget the roots of where this all started … where these trees came from and the symbol of peace and friendship they represent.”
WATCH VIDEO
Photos of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC by Ron Engle
The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016, has several works by Naka and other bonsai masters.
Japanese Gardens, Cherry Blossoms and Festivals
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