“Under the cherry trees the corpses are buried! You can believe that. Why? Because it is unbelievable that cherry blossoms should bloom so splendidly.”
Standing under full bloom, one does recall Kajii Motojiro. At Chidorigafuchi and Yasukuni Shrine the cherries went to full bloom in no time. On the 25th last week this blog reported two flowers on the Yasukuni sample tree; two hours after that noon, five had opened, and Tokyo’s first-bloom declaration followed, as readers know. After riding out Sunday’s storm, Chidorigafuchi was already at full bloom yesterday, Monday, March 31 — tourists by day, night-blossom crowds after dark (photos).
Kajii’s piece ends: “Ah, under the cherry trees the corpses are buried! Corpses from some untraceable fancy have now become one with the tree and will not leave no matter how I shake my head. Only now do I feel I have the same right as the villagers feasting under that tree to drink the blossom-viewing sake.” We did not mean to follow him, but 14 colleagues went out for a blossom feast of our own. From Palaceside Building we strolled through Chidorigafuchi to Yasukuni and took our fill of the cherries. Then came the party. At Yasukuni, stall keepers set tables and chairs and held places. A set of one beer plus several dishes — fried chicken, sausage, oden and so on — was 2,500 yen a head. It was the eve of the consumption-tax rise, but we bargained it down to 2,000. The food was surely cut to match; even so there was more than enough, while one beer was not, so we bought more and cups of hot sake besides. No talk of work — railways as a hobby, overseas trips — and the table was lively.
The lit night blossoms, with a little drink in, looked splendidly eerie and cool, blooming a thin pink. A breeze came up, and after about an hour we closed.
Everyone in the Palaceside Building offices: this is the moment to see them.