Spring 2015 Hanami in Hasselt

Hasselt is home to one of the largest real Japanese gardens (built by Japanese gardeners) in Europe and I'm lucky to live an hour or so away from it.
Traditionally every Spring the garden holds a Hanami.

What better place to wear a kimono ?

Lucky for us the weather was splendid : lots of sun, no rainclouds anywhere ( very unusual here in Belgium !).

 

 The Japanese garden has a large waterfall cascading down into the upper lake ,

 from where the water flows through a winding stream , with paths alongside it.

 

 



Several plants and shrubs were already in bloom , thanks to the warm weather. 

 

 

Ofcourse we were here for one blossom only : sakura !

 

And we weren't disappointed : the sakura were in blossom everywhere around us.

First to arrive : Maaike and Ben, as always impeccably dressed.

Maaike's musubi.

Meeting up with their friends from the tea ceremony , that was held in the tea house later on.

Joining us from the Netherlands : Thirsa , Amy and Jody.

Our party settles down in a choice spot underneath the sakura trees.

 

And while we're getting comfortable in the sun,

 

 

below us in the square, the taiko drummers are getting ready for their performance.

 

 

Amy, watching the drummers play.

Thirsa , who's here for the first time, is a professional photographer. She also loves to pose for photographs.

 

 That's a very dignified look. Stern almost :)

Lovely smile, though :)

Amy and Jody , showing off their sleeves.

Amy at the entrance to the teahouse.

Posing by the tea-house : Thirsa, Amy and Jody.
Personally I prefer not to pose people in the sun, because of the shadows on their face, but here I had no choice.

 

 What a lovely surprise : Caroline (in kimono) and her sister.

That's a wonderful plushy ! Oh, it's a pirate ?

Everyone posing at the bridge.

The traditional tabi shot ( well at least three are tabi ! ).

When you visit a hanami in kimono, people are always curious and ask what you're wearing :)

and want to have a picture posing together as a memento. It's lots of fun.

 Before we go back to the lower lake by the tea-house , everyone poses
fearlessly on the narrow bridge by the waterfall.

And while Jody is trying to lure the koi and get some free sashimi,

we're taking pictures in the setting sun by the lake.

Tip of the day :) : use a flash or a reflector for this shot, when the sun is behind your model, otherwise this side will be too dark.

 

Another day over, one last look at the waterfall and we're headed for home.

Till next time, sakura !

 

 

 

Spring 2013 : Hanami at Amstelveen

( as always : click on the pictures for a full size view )

Last Sunday, the 14th of April, I met up with other Kimono de Jack NL members for our hanami
 ( cherry blossom viewing ) at Amstelveen, the Netherlands.

Hanami ( cherry blossom viewing party ) has been a tradition in Japan since the beginning of the Heian period ( late 8th century ).
For the Japanese the blossoming of the sakura indicates the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Because the delicate blossoms don't last much longer than a week and heavy rain or wind can make them drop even sooner, they are often seen as a symbol of our own brief lives.

Winter this year has given us frosty nights all the way up to April causing the trees to blossom quite late.

With only a few trees in blossom out of the four hundred, we had set up strategically near to the largest one.

After a week of quite rainy weather, we were lucky when later in the afternoon the sky cleared up and the sun came out. After such a long cold period, sunny weather puts everyone in a good mood.

Stephanie in a blue kimono.

A little bit of  kitsuke required ( the Japanese art of dressing someone or yourself in kimono ) : some obis had shifted a little after sitting down and getting up.
  

which gave me a chance to take some close-ups and detail shots.

Riga has changed the front of her afro hairdo : lovely !

Riga's musubi.

Maaike's musubi with sunflower and ladybugs (kawaii !).

Musubi shot of Carolien( left ) and Linda ( right ).

Carolien's musubi .

Carolien's obijime with obidome ( obijime decorations ).

After the fixing of the obis , our party strolled over to the one tree in blossom, to take pictures.

Linda, posing by the sakura tree , for another photographer.

I don't know if talking to the tree that was blossoming ahead of all the others will encourage it to bloom again for us next year, but it never hurts to try :)

 Yes, hugging it may work too, Riga!

Everyone (more or less) busy lining up for the group shot near the sakura tree with Armindo looking on in the background.

From left to right : Ben, Maaike, Carolien, Stephanie, Riga, Linda and Nancy.

Musubi shot by the sakura tree

Showing off of the sleeves.

  The KDJ NL signature tabi shot ( well at least six of them are tabi ).

 

This little shy fellow came over for a closer look and let himself get petted by Linda , but when everyone moved in closer he ran off :)

Carolien, enjoying the sun.

Linda.

Carolien.

Later in the afternoon, Dalisha joined us.

Of course, we redid the group shots :)

I can't remember who came up with the idea for this group shot, but it may well become (yet another) tradition.

Linda and Riga taking pictures of Dalisha posing with sakura blossoms

Sakura, sakura ...

See you next year !