just touching
the cherry blossom petals
brings tears
花びらがさわつても出る涙哉
-Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶), 1810.
Trans. David G. Lanoue.

Commodity dealers built storehouses about the 9 registered boat launches (the 1st, Ichino Funairi 一之船入, is preserved), creating neighbourhoods such as Kiyamachi (木屋町 Lumber Yard Town), Kamiyamachi (紙屋町 Paper Dealers' Town) and Ishiyamachi (石屋町 Stonemasons' Town).

Up to 100 flat-bottomed boats, known as Takasebune (高瀬舟), could use the 11km route at one time.

From the moment it opened, the Takase-gawa (高瀬川) was extremely popular, even featuring in guide books of the time.

Should be a nice day today. #Kyoto My plans for what to do in #osaka are fairly vague but may well involve seeing the Castle there in addition to anime related shopping. (The latter being something I haven’t had much of a chance to do yet)

Here we go… I even got a seat… #kyoto

Once connecting the heart of Kyōto to the port of Fushimi, the Takase-gawa (高瀬川) was excavated by Suminokura Ryoi (角倉了以) between 1608-11.
Originally rising beside Suminokura's residence on Kiyamachi-Nijō, at one time the canal stretched all the way to Jujō (十条通).

It is thought that Omuro-zakura (御室桜) originated in Heian times.
The current cherry trees were planted in the early Edo period (江戸時代), shortly after Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光 1604-51) helped rebuild the temple.

Reaching their peak (typically) around mid-April, the temple's groves of cherry trees are the last to bloom within the city.
Known as 'Omuro-zakura' (御室桜), Ninna-ji's trees are uniquely stunted, growing to only around 2m tall. They are a variant of 'sato-zakura' (郷さくら).