Kansai in Spring

京都御苑 (Kyoto Gyoen) is the park that surrounds 京都御所 (Kyoto Imperial Palace), the home of the emperors until the capital moved to Tokyo, and its lawns, gravel avenues and old noble estates cover an area of around 700 metres by 1.3 km in the middle of the city. Around 1,100 cherry trees grow across the grounds, among them weeping cherries, yamazakura and late flowering satozakura, so the season here runs longer than at most single spots in Kyoto. The first to open are the 糸桜 (itozakura / thread cherries) at 近衞邸跡 (the former Konoe residence) in the northwest corner, slender weeping cherries that start in mid March while most of the city is still waiting, and that peak in late March beside a small pond. The 出水の枝垂れ桜 (Demizu weeping cherry) nearby blooms at around the same time, and the 車還桜 (Kurumagaeshi Zakura) near the Nakadachiuri Gate, a satozakura said to have made an emperor turn his carriage back for a second look, follows in early to mid April. The park is a national garden and free to enter, and because the trees are spread over such a wide area it rarely feels as crowded as Maruyama Park or the Philosopher's Path. Marutamachi and Imadegawa Stations on the Karasuma Line subway, around 7 and 9 minutes from Kyoto Station, are both a short walk from the park. Coming in the last week of March for the Konoe weeping cherries, ideally in the morning, is the time to go.

The Philosopher's Path (哲学の道, Tetsugaku no Michi) is a stone walking path that runs for around 2 kilometres along a branch of the Lake Biwa Canal in Kyoto's Higashiyama district, between Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion) at the northern end and Nanzen-ji at the southern end. Around 500 cherry trees line both banks of the canal and bloom in early April, with the path's reputation as one of Kyoto's quieter cherry blossom walks earned from the mix of overhanging Somei Yoshino branches, fallen petals floating on the canal, and the small cafes, galleries and side street temples lining the residential neighbourhood. The path is named after Nishida Kitaro, one of the most influential Japanese philosophers of the 20th century, who walked it daily as a meditative commute to and from Kyoto University. The canal itself is part of the Lake Biwa Canal built during the Meiji period to bring water from Shiga Prefecture to Kyoto and to power Japan's first hydroelectric power plant. Walking the path takes 30 to 40 minutes one way without stops. From Kyoto Station, city bus 5, 17, or Raku Bus 100 to the Ginkakuji-michi stop takes around 30 to 40 minutes, with a 10 minute walk to the northern end of the path.

Around 700 cherry trees fill the grounds of Daigo-ji Temple (醍醐寺) in southern Kyoto each spring, descended from the cherry trees originally planted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598 for his famous Daigo no Hanami, with the cherry lined path from the entrance gate through the temple precinct passing the National Treasure five storey pagoda built in 951, the oldest verified wooden building in Kyoto. The temple was founded in 874 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. The Sambo-in subtemple at the base of the mountain holds a garden designed personally by Hideyoshi for the 1598 hanami, designated a Special Historic Site and Special Place of Scenic Beauty. Hideyoshi's party of 1,300 guests is considered the origin of the modern Japanese practice of eating and drinking under the cherry blossoms, and the annual Ho-Taiko Hanami Gyoretsu parade on the second Sunday of April reenacts it with around 100 participants in Momoyama period costume. Cherry blossoms peak from late March to early April. Combined admission to Sambo-in, Shimo-Daigo and the Reihokan Garden during spring is ¥1,500. Daigo Station on the Tozai Subway Line is around 30 minutes from Kyoto Station via Yamashina, with a 15 minute walk to the temple.

Spring in Kansai is inseparable from bamboo shoots, and Kyoto's are grown rather than gathered. The groves on the 西山 (Nishiyama) slopes around Nagaokakyo, Muko and Oyamazaki are worked all year. Clay is spread over the soil, the canes are thinned, and the shoots are dug with a long chisel bladed 掘り (hori) before they push through the surface, which is what produces 白子たけのこ (shirako takenoko), pale, tender and almost without bitterness. The season runs from around late March through early May. The dish that belongs to it is 若竹煮 (Wakatake Ni), shoots simmered with young wakame in a light dashi, the two spring ingredients that arrive at the same time. 筍ごはん follows. Kanto digs shoots off hillsides for freshness. Kyoto farms them for texture.

しらす (Shirasu) are the young of sardine and anchovy, and the reason to eat them in Kansai is 生しらす (nama shirasu), the raw version. They spoil within hours, so raw shirasu is only served where the boats land, which along this coast means the ports of Wakayama and the Kishu shoreline, and menus there will say which morning's catch it is. Fresh, the texture is soft and almost melting and the flavour is faintly sweet rather than salty, which is a different thing entirely from the dried しらす干し sold everywhere. It is served over rice as しらす丼, sometimes with an egg yolk or grated ginger and nothing else. The spring boats go out from around mid March once the winter closure lifts.

鰆 (Sawara) is written with the character for spring, and the reason is the run. The fish move in from deeper water to spawn in and around the Seto Inland Sea from March, which is when the Kansai boats land them and when the name makes sense. The flesh is soft, pale and mildly fatty, and it does not hold together like a firmer fish, so it is handled gently. Kansai's treatment is 西京焼き (Saikyo Yaki), fillets left for a day or two in the sweet white 西京味噌 (Saikyo miso) of Kyoto and then grilled until the surface caramelises, which is one of the standard items in a Kyoto lunch set. It is also eaten as sashimi and lightly seared as tataki. Salt grilled sawara turns up in autumn too, but the spring fish is the one the character refers to.