Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森 will have the 20th anniversary next February for its opening as the 22nd Citizen Forest of Yokohama. The first chairperson for Lovers Association for Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森愛護会 was Mr. Zenzo Nakamaru. He’s now a retired nonagenarian, but remembers a lot about the forest he loves. He knows quite many cherry trees of Niiharu, of what kind, where, how large, etc. One day, he told us, “The authentic way to admire cherry blossoms is not having a party or strolling beneath it. You should see them as a part of an entire forest from a distance.”
This spring, Yokohama has had a strange spring. One day a polar front covers over our head. It’s cold as if we were in February. Next day’s temperature becomes like 22°C for late May. Thanks to that, cherry blossoms (Sakura) have been staying around for more than a week. We had to wait 2 weeks or so to have a full-bloom. You see? Sometimes, Sakura opens their first 5-10 flowers one day, and the next day the tree can have a full bloom. The third day with winds and/or rain would blow away all the petals, and the season of cherry blossoms is over. This year has been different. It is like “We can enjoy them for more than 2 weekends!” So, I have had a time to observe cherry blossoms in particular locations for a (comparatively) long period of time. I’ve realized the meaning of what Mr. Nakamaru said. The cherry trees are evolving as a part of a forest. It makes impression of the flower more dramatic, similar from a slow motion movie that depicts spring ephemeral in a certain ecological system.
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| Niiharu Forest at the end of March; it becomes |
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| like
this in a week. Could you figure out whitish part on the left of this photo? They are huge trees of Sakura. |
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| Charcoal baking hut in Niiharu is surrounded by cherries. |
The majority of cherry blossoms we find in this way are not of hybrid Yoshino Cherry, but wild Prunus speciosa and/or Prunus pendula f. ascendens both of which have subtler color. Strikingly pink Yoshino Cherry stands out if you see them in a valley park of skyscrapers. Wild cherry trees are in paler pink that can be inconspicuous in downtown, but salient within gradually changing pastel greens of a forest early spring. Their flowers look like a cloud drifting in a dreamy sky ... Shangri-La? It would be a matter of taste of course, but surely Mr. Nakamaru has a point. If you have a chance to hike in April in Kanagawa Prefecture, please just experience cherry blossoms. You may be possible to float with delicate petals of cherry flowers surrounded by fresh greens of deep forests … (My list for March-April cherry blossoms’ itinerary in Kanagawa can be found here.)
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| Also a
part of Niiharu Forest. It’s arcadia … A new resident for a highrise condominium in Tokaichiba 十日市場 said their top floors are best spot to enjoy floating canopies of cherry blossoms in Niiharu Citizen Forest. |
If you find an environmental issues
in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Natural Environment Conservation
Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121 〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323
You can send an enquiry to them by
clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/
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