Saying sayonara to sakura in Golden Week

Getting outdoors is one of the things I enjoy most during spring and the Golden Week period, and there's no shortage of ways to do that out here in Niigata. Yesterday we thought we'd go check out a local mountain, Sakadoyama, since the area surrounding the mountain is famous for their katakuri, or dogtooth violets. 

There were a few dogtooth violets on the hillside there, but we abandoned our walk early!

We didn't really estimate just how steep the mountain would be - it's not really something that can be done easily with little ones in tow, just for the record! The violets we saw weren't really too prolific on the small paved portion we tackled, however we did notice some sansai, or mountain vegetables that people were foraging for. I wrote about the popularity of foraging for mountain vegetables out here in this blog post, but it was interesting actually seeing things I'd spotted at our local farmers market growing out in the wild for anyone to grab. If you look closely in this picture, you'll see some stalks sticking up from the ground that are curled at the top. Those are kogomi or ostrich fern. You'll often see people with tatami mats out the front of their houses here, drying their mountain vegetables - and I often see these kogomi sitting outside.

There are actually a number of edible bits and pieces in this picture, including kogomi 

Once we realized that hiking all the way up the mountain wasn't going to go too well with our young children, we turned back and decided to revisit a local favorite of ours, Zenibuchi Park. We were there just last week in the prime of sakura season out here, and the park was quite crowded - especially by our usual Niigata standards for crowds these days! However, when we visited yesterday it was much more calm. The food trucks were gone, and the parking lot was not even half full. Many of the sakura petals were already falling, but there were still a large number of trees still in bloom, including the "weeping" style of sakura which are probably my favorite variety.

Springtime beauty in Niigata Prefecture

I also really enjoy the "sakura snow" experience when the petals start falling. I wrote about not really caring for the hype of sakura season over here, but was reminded of the beauty of impermanence by another blogger. I think those comments really made me think about it more, and when I see those petals fall there is a part of me that really does think "gosh - they are beautiful and I'll miss them until next year". Perspective helps!

Sakura petals are beginning to cover the ground here in Niigata - a different kind of snow!

Spring here in Niigata always feels special though - and not just because of the sakura. Winters are so long here that when the sun is out and the snow is melted you just feel invigorated again. You can feel like a bit of a shut-in during the colder months, but spring is when people come alive and out of their hibernation. It's a celebration of all that is good, new, and beautiful, and I'm glad to have so much springtime beauty to appreciate.