Hey guys! It's Chika.
Welcome to the Japanagos Channel.
I am in Kita Kamakura today
with my friend Madoka.
And we are here to see the hydrangeas today.
Kamakura is very famous for the hydrangeas
and it's famous for a lot of things.
It basically used to be the old capital
so there is a lot to see.
But we are going to focus on the Meigetsu-in,
which is the temple that is known as the Ajisai-dera.
So let's go!
Someone's playing the violin.
That's where we are now.
Current location.
Our main destination is Meigetsu-in right here.
The really cool thing about Kamakura is
that it's close to Tokyo.
It's like an hour south of Tokyo.
So for example, if you are on a trip here
and you don't have time to go to like Kyoto,
not that it's the same,
but it has the similar atmosphere.
And it has a lot of history like Kyoto.
So Madoka is hare onna.
In Japan we have these superstitious thing
where people are either like sunny or rainy.
And Madoka is a sunny girl.
So wherever she goes, it's sunny!
It's her fault that we can't enjoy
the hydrangeas in the rain.
Is this it?
We are at Meigethu-in.
We are going to go in and go see the ajisai!
The admission fee is 500 yen for adults.
Meigetsu-in means bright moon
and rabbits are associated with the moon
because the crater in the moon looks like a rabbit
pounding on rice cake.
This is the famous stairway
with the hydrangeas on both sides.
Flowers in Japan have something called hana kotoba.
And for Ajisai, it's koman.
Like prideful.
Fickle, because they are always changing colors.
A little bit about ajisai.
They originate from Japan,
but they actually didn't used to be popular.
And they weren't this big and fluffy kind.
It was like a flat kind, which is called "gaku ajisai."
Because of their blueish color,
They were called "ghost flowers."
When it got to Europe,
in England they became very popular.
And they decided to do selective breeding
and make it even more gorgeous looking.
And then Japan reimported those.
Meigetsu-in has actualy played a big role
in a comeback of ajisais in Japan.
After the war, ajisais were planted there
to provide something to soothe the souls of those
traumatized by the war.
The ajisai at Meigetsu-in is a little bit different than
the big ones that most of us know as hydrangeas.
And they are called "hime ajisai," princess hydrangeas.
They are just really small and petit,
and elegant, very delicate.
They do lack in variety.
You won't see a ton of different colors,
a ton of different sizes,
but you'll get experience kind of,
one of a kind Japanese hydrangea garden.
Just looking at these hydrangeas,
because they're this cool blue color,
kind of cools you off.
And then all of the breeze
that comes from the bamboos from the back.
It's actually a good place to come in the summer.
This concludes our trip to Kita Kamakura.
We saw some really pretty hydrangeas.
And now we are going to go back to Tokyo!
We have to come back to Kamakura
Because there are so many other things to see.
Thanks for watching! Bye-bye.