今朝、子供たちと森｢杏の里｣に寄って、花が咲いているかどうかチェックしました。写真は下の方の木ですが、写真の様に綺麗に咲きだしています。そして、明日(５日)は晴れの予想なのでお勧めのタイミングです。
これは我々千曲市の住民の誇りに思っている時期です。是非、皆様に子の綺麗な花を見て頂きたいです。
見終わったら、お風呂でも亀清にも寄ってください。
This morning, our kids and I stopped by Mori to see how the apricot blossoms were progressing. As you can see by this picture, the trees in the lower area have started blooming! Tomorrow (Sunday April 5th), the weather is supposed to be sunny, so there should be some great picture taking opportunities. This is one of our proudest times of the year here in Chikuma City -- I really hope everyone can come and see our beautiful apricot blossoms.

千曲観光協会HPはこちらClick here for the Chikuma City Tourism Agency's official website.

朝に起きたら、外が真っ白だと驚きました。3月末でやっと雪景色だ!今年の冬は雪が本当に少なかったです。この雪は杏と桜の木の花にどういう影響でしょうか?
冬限定でお鍋プランをやっています。3月末で切れる予定ですが、今年の冬は長く続きそうです。お鍋プランを延長しなきゃ！
When we woke up this morning, we were surprised to see the ground covered in snow. Here it is the end of March, and winter is finally showing up. I hope it doesn't have a negative effect on the apricot and cherry blossoms.

先週にここで森｢杏の里｣の花が速く咲くと書いてしまいましたが、あれから温度がまた低くなったし、雪も降りました。従って、今週末じゃなくて、あんずまつり予定通り４月２日ごろから花見は出来るでしょう。今日、通ってみたら、谷の上の方の木はまだ写真のようにつぼみのままでした。
長野では、この時期に｢三寒四温」と表現があります。大体ゴールデンウィークまで寒い三日間の後、温かい４日間という折り返しが続くそうです。余計に花咲くタイミングの予想が難しいわけです。
またちょこちょこ森に行きますので最新情報をここでまた発表したいと思っております。
Last week, I announced that the apricot trees in Mori's Anzu-no-Sato (Apricot Village) were going to bloom early. Since then, temperatures dropped and we even had snow. I took this picture of the apricot trees this afternoon -- the ones in the upper end of the valley haven't started blooming yet. So it looks like the flowers will follow the original schedule for the Anzu Festival, of 02-April through 17-April.
There is a saying here in Nagano from about this time through the beginning of May of "San-Kan, Shi-On", which means 3 days of cold weather followed by 4 days of warm. This must be confusing to the poor apricot trees.
I will continue to check in on Mori in the coming days and will provide more update info here on this blog, so stay tuned!

亀清の渡り廊下の坪庭にクリスマスロースがこんなに可愛いく咲いてきました。紫も白もあって、上品な綺麗さ。

そして、私の森｢杏の里｣のコネから新着情報：杏の枝のつぼみがほんの少し開き始まったそうです。地元のおばあさん情報では、３月２８日・２９日の週末から花見が出来るそうです。杏祭り実態はその次の週末から始まる予定なので偉い込みます。空いている内に、早目に行った方が勝ちかもしれません。(ちなみに、亀清はまだ空き部屋があるので宿泊は宜しくお願いします。）

In the "tsubo" pocket gardens off our "watari-roka" passageway, the Christmas Rose plants are starting to fully bloom. They have a subtle, unpretentious charm to their flower -- it perfectly matches the relaxing mood of our inn.

In other flower news, the Apricot Village in Mori on the other side of town is gearing up for the Apricot Festival, scheduled to take place from 04-April to 17-April. However, I just heard from my Mori "connection" that the buds on the branches are already starting to open. That's right -- Mori's apricot blossoms will be in peak form for viewing about a week ahead of their official festival. March 28th, 29th weekend should be perfect, and the crowds won't start until the weekend after! (For anyone wishing to stay the night, we still have rooms available the weekend of the 28th!)

戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Nagano

亀清の｢百年風呂｣の庭がずっと冬眠していました。このごろ、ちょっと起きて来たようです。お風呂のそばの植物はこんなに綺麗な花が咲いています。

Kamesei's "100 Year Bath" outdoor bath's garden is starting to wake up out of its dormancy. This plant next to the bath is sporting these beautiful pink flowers.

うちの妻の従妹の娘が袴を穿いたままで顔を出してくれた。近くに住んでいるけど、遠い親戚だ。アメリカは大学卒業が大体6月ですが、日本では今が卒業の時期です。一番驚いたのは、Saoriさんの袴の色は私の大学の色：紫と金。格好いい！
ということで、さおりさんと他の卒業生の皆さん、おめでとうございます！これからはスクール・オブ・ライフ（人生学校）でがんばってください。
My wife's cousin's daughter stopped by today. She lives close, but is a distant relative. (Sorry, bad joke.) Anyways, she was wearing a hakama, which until now I had associated with martial arts. Her college graduation celebration was later in the day, and she was dressed up for that. Back in the States, June is when everyone graduates, but here in Japan, it is March. What surprised me the most was the coloring of her hakama: purple and gold. Those are the colors of the University of Washington, my alma mater.

亀清の今年の雛人形はこちらです。３日からロビーに飾られた。この辺は旧暦でやりますので、３月３日から４月３日まで飾る習慣です。
毎年、隣の坂城町の｢坂木宿ふるさと歴史館」でこの時期に古雛まつりが行います。今年の祭りは３月２０日(金)から５月６日(水)までの予定です。雛人形研究家の田口先生は先日に公演しに来ましたのでまた亀清に泊まってくらました。その先生曰く、北信が東京と京都の中心になるので両方の雛人形の文化が流れてきて、独特なスタイルになっているそうです。本人は元々西洋人形の研究から始まって、途中から雛人形に切り替えたと、美咲ちゃんがGrandmaからもらった人形と遊んでいる姿を見たときに話してくれました。この人形はGrandmaの子供のころに本人が良く遊んだらしいです。自分の娘に遊んでもらえるようにずっと持っていたが、私と弟２人で、息子切でした。孫娘を待っていたら、アメリカからうんと遠い日本で生まれたこの美咲ちゃん。それでも、この大事な、思いで深い人形をうちの美咲ちゃんにくれました。Grandma Judiの記念でJuちゃんと呼んでいます。

雛人形もこの感じで｢思い｣が付くのでしょうか？

March 3rd is the Hina Doll Festival in Japan. Households throughout the country put out these Hina doll sets for their daughters to enjoy. Most of the inns here at Togura Kamiyamada Onsen also have elaborate Hina sets on display, including the 8-level one at Kamiyamada Hotel. Kamesei's set this year is this relatively simple one. Our daughter Misaki seems happy with it.

At the Sakaki-juku Furusato Historical Hall in neighboring Sakaki Town, every year they put on an Antique Hina Doll Festival. This year's event is scheduled to run from 20-March (Fri) to 06-May (Wed). They often have Taguchi-sensei, a Hina Doll scholar, come for a talk, and this year he once again stayed at Kamesei. According to the sensei, northern Nagano is at a sort of crossroads between Tokyo and Kyoto, and our local Hina dolls were influenced by both sides for a style unique to this area. Taguchi-sensei actually started out researching Western doll culture. He mentioned that when he saw our Misaki playing with her Ju-chan doll. Ju-chan is named after Grandma Judi who kept the doll from when she played with it as a child. Grandma initially kept it to give to her daughter, but for better or worse she only had my two brothers and I. So she waited for a granddaughter. She finally got one in Misaki, but here in far-away Japan. Even so, Grandma still gave Misaki her treasured doll.

I wonder if Hina dolls have such memories attached to them.

坂城古雛まつりの詳しくはこちらClick here for details on Sakaki's Antique Hina Doll Festival

戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Nagano.

亀清の真前は衣料品のべに屋です。斉藤おじさんはお店の周りの庭をうんと綺麗にしています。その中で、このボケの木が咲いてきました。ピンクの色と後ろの石は綺麗なコントラストになっています。あんずと桜の花は後１ヶ月ちょっとですけど、取り敢えずこのボケの花を楽しめます。

Across the road from Kamesei is the clothing shop Beniya. Saitoh-san takes really good care of the garden surrounding the store. Right now, his "boke" tree is in bloom. Its pink blossoms make a starking contrast with the stones behind it. Anzu (apricot) and cherry blossoms are still over a month away, but for now we can enjoy these boke blossoms.

戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Nagano

うちの庭師、岡田さん、が亀清の庭状態を確認しに来ました。私は庭がまだ冬眠しているようにしか見えなかったですが、さすが岡田さんのプローの目でこのクリスマスロースの動きが見つけました。今年の冬が暖かくて、あまり雪景色になりませんでした。その分で庭の動きもやはり早いですね。
Our gardener, Okada-san, came by today to check on Kamesei's garden. To my eye, the garden is still asleep for the winter, but Okada-san's pro eye saw signs of spring. This Christmas Rose is starting to wake up. This winter has been unusually warm, so the garden is starting to wake up earlier than usual.

亀清旅館の中庭に亀は４匹ぐらい住んでいます。まだ冬眠しているはずですが、今日の天気はうんと暖かくなりましたので亀は一匹が珍しく、見えてきました。午後から雪が降る予想ですから、亀さん、今の内に太陽をたっぷり浴びてね。
In Kamesei Ryokan's naka-niwa inner garden, there are 4 or so turtles living in the koi pond. Normally they are hibernating this time of the year, but today's temperature was unseasonably warm. One of the turtles woke up to soak in the sun. He'd better enjoy it while he can -- it's supposed to snow later this afternoon.

戸倉上山田温泉の亀清旅館のHPはこちらClick here for the website of Kamesei Ryokan in Togura Kamiyamada Onsen.