Sakura in Yoshino - 吉野の桜

4月13日朝、吉野山に入る。花見頃も後半の時期なので、上千本より上をめざし、まずはバスで金峯神社まで急ぎ、そこから西行庵に向かう。西行庵のまわりは風流を感じさせるし、そこを老夫婦で訪れていた品の良い夫人と言葉を交わしたが、「どうしてもここには来てみたかった」とその人は熱意を語っていた。ただそこまでの道は普通の観光客にはちょっと厳しいし、その割に奥千本はどこにあるのやらというのが実体だ。実のところ西行庵は秋に来ようと、今回はここまで足を伸ばすつもりではなかった。
結局、吉野は花矢倉に直行してそこに居座るなり散策するなりというのが決定版だと思う。斜面を彩る桜のカラーグラデーションは見ていて飽きることがない。数ある神社の中からひとつ、水分神社の趣もある社は人気も高そうでお薦めしておこう。午後の混雑をかき分けて下山、3時過ぎの電車で帰路についた。

金峯神社 (Kinpu Shrine)


奥千本への道 (Road to Okusenbon)


奥千本 (Okusenbon)


西行庵 (Saigyou-an Shack)


西行庵 (Saigyou-an Shack)


水分神社 (Mikumari Shrine)


水分神社 (Mikumari Shrine)


花矢倉1 (Hanayagura)


花矢倉2 (Hanayagura)


花矢倉3 (Hanayagura)


花矢倉4 (Hanayagura)


花矢倉5 (Hanayagura)


混み合う下千本通り (Busy street)

April 13 in the morning, we went to Mt. Yoshino. The season of sakura was in its latter part, thus we aimed Kamisenbon and further up. We took bus to Kinpu Shrine and walked to Saigyo-an. It was a tiny shack in rustic but tasteful area, and we spoke to an elegant lady of old couple who confessed that she had an unsuppressible desire visiting this Saigyo’s place. Very good indeed, but for typical tourists, the distance with ups and downs might be excessive, and the reality is “where the heck is Okusenbon (literally thousand trees further up)?” Originally, I thought of visiting Saigyo-an in the autumn and did not intend to visit it this time.
In short, the ultimate tour for sakura in Yoshino is to directly visit Hanayagura and stay there or walk by there. The color gradation in the slopes is marvelous and never tiring. Among many shrines in the mountain, I would recommend Mikumari Shrine for its cute garden and very old building. The street was packed and we were like trying to swim against the stream to catch 3 o’clock train back home.