Renamed after WWII, the celebration was originally known as 'Chiaki-bushi' (千秋節) and then 'Tencho-setsu' (天長節). Together with the empress consort's birthday, 'Chikyū-setsu' (地久節), the names referenced an old Chinese idiom from Lao Tzu's (老子) "Tao Te Ching" (道德经).

TENNŌ TANJŌBI🥳

February's 2nd national holiday (February 23rd) celebrates the birthday of Emperor Naruhito (徳仁 b.1960).
Tennō tanjōbi (天皇誕生日), "The Emperor's Birthday", has been a holiday since 1868, changing with the accession of each new emperor.
#Japan #天皇誕生日

Happy 'Cat Day' from Percy (パーシー) and Hogarth (ホガース)‍‍🥳

#猫の日

One of my oddest feline adventures in Kyōto (and one that I still have mixed feelings about) was at 'Nyan Nyan-ji' (猫猫寺 'Meow Meow Temple')

Located on the way to Ōhara, it's very hard to put into words what this sort-of-shrine, sort-of-café, sort-of-shop, short-of-cats kind of place is like.

Percy admires some dancing yōkai

If you look closely you'll see a 'nekomata' (猫又 - they have multiple tails) amongst the other creatures.
There are 2 main kinds of cat yōkai...the other type, 'bakeneko' (化け猫), usually only have 1 tail

#catday #猫の日 #Japan #Kyoto

The date of National Cat Day is different for each country. In Japan the 'Executive Cat Day Committee' selected February 22nd in 1978‍

#Kyoto #Japan #ねこの日 #catday #nekonohi #京都 #ukiyoe #浮世絵

SUPER CATS & NINJA🥷

Happy 'Cat Day' (ねこの日/ニャンの日 'Neko-no-hi' or 'Nyan-no-hi')!🥳

'Meow' in Japanese is 'nya-' (にゃー)...
...as February 22nd (22.2 'ni ni ni') sounds a little like "nya nya nya", the day is devoted to our feline friends.

#Kyoto #Japan #ねこの日

A winter wonderland within the walls of Tōji-in.

#Tojiin #等持院 #Kyoto #京都 #snow #snowfall #winterwonderland

Offering colour at winter's end, it was believed that daffodils, camellias, wintersweet and Japanese apricots were at their most fragrant when it snowed.

Collectively known as the '4 Friends of the Snow', the 'setchū-no-shiyū' (雪中四友) were a popular subject for Chinese painters.

The Randen (嵐電) tram trundles through snowfall on the way to Kitano-Hakubaichō from Ryōanji station (closest to our Garden Teahouse).

#嵐電 #tram #snow #Kyoto #京福電気鉄道

one plum blossom
brings us just one more
step to the warmth

梅一輪
一輪ほどの
暖かさ

-Hattori Ransetsu (服部嵐雪 1654-1707).
Trans. Gabi Greve.

#Kyoto #京都 #Japan #plumblossoms #umeblossoms #梅 #和菓子 #生菓子 #spring #haiku

It's lucky that ume don't mind the snow because Kyōto has been enjoying more than a few flurries of late.

Kameya Shigehisa's 'ume ichirin' (梅一輪) depicts a delicate ume blossom and vivid fruit. The sweet's name alludes to a famous haiku by Hattori Ransetsu (服部嵐雪)...
#京都

A fine snow falls about Myōshin-ji's Lecture Hall.

#Myoshinji #妙心寺 #snow #snowday #snowfall #zen #Kyoto

️FOUR FRIENDS OF THE SNOW

Daffodils, camellias, wintersweet and Japanese apricots are known as 'setchū-no-shiyū' (雪中四友), the 'Four Friends of the Snow'.

keeping company
with the plum tree-
the gate's last snow
梅の木の連に残るや門の雪
-Kobayashi Issa, 1822.
Trans. David G. Lanoue.

But for the east wind to melt the ice, there first needs to be some brutally chilly weather...
....and sure enough snow arrived on cue️️🥶

The city has very few snowy days, but in recent years snow seems to settle thickest with the first wave of blooming ume trees.
#snow #京都

WELCOMING SPRING

In the traditional calendar spring has arrived.
During 'Risshun' (立春) the 'east wind melts the ice' (東風解凍 Feb 4th-8th), 'bush warblers begin singing in the mountains' (黄鶯睍睆 9-13th), and mysteriously 'fish emerge from the ice' (魚上氷 14-18th).

#snow #spring #Kyoto #Tojiin