The height of someiyoshino cherry blossom season is about over, but there are other varieties of cherry blossoms that bloom a little later. A number of them are in Suetsugu Park, right by Matsue City Hall, so I took a windy lunch break to go take a look.
This type is called Goza-no-ma-nioi, which I’d roughly translate as “the scent of sitting”. That said, I didn’t detect much fragrance, but the bunched blossoms are neat.
Eigenji: pillowy white blossoms, still not much fragrance.
Fugenzou: large, multi-layered blossoms. Still not much fragrance.
At last, I found a couple of very fragrant trees! While there were slight differences in their scent, they both smelled like cherries (which makes sense). Other varieties that I detected fragrance from didn’t strike me as having such a pleasant, fruity smell, so I rather enjoyed these.
I’m not sure what these white ones are called, but I liked them anyway.
Rather large and fluffy petals.
A very pale pink, if you’re looking for it in the younger blossoms.
Out of all the types of cherry blossoms I’ve seen, (I don’t have pictures of them all–there are still more blossom types all over town), I’ve decided youkihi are my favorite. They have more petals, more color, and more fragrance than many others. This is, however, only personal sentiment–cherry blossoms are appreciated for more than these attributes, and the someiyoshino can’t be topped when it comes to the beauty of scattering petals. That’s okay, the youkihi are still around to enjoy one they’re gone!
When I got back to the office after lunch, I found some sakura mochi left on my desk, as someone had brought them to distribute around the office. I’ve been seeing them here and there since February (a little early, but better early than late so as to foretell the coming of the season!).
Basically, they are a soft, thin, lightly flavored mochi (pounded rice) sort of pancake filled with sweet, smooth azuki bean paste, and held together by a cooked, salty leaf. It’s okay to eat them with or without the leaf.
Full bloom cherry blossom viewing photos here and here, while other varieties are here.
San'in Monogatari 
April 24, 2013 at 3:08 pm
I’ve tried really hard, but I just can’t bring myself to like mochi all that much. I don’t hate it and in small doses it can even be pretty okay, but too much and it just starts tasting (and feeling) like I’m eating rubber.
April 24, 2013 at 3:38 pm
I’ve spent the greater part of my life hating mochi (and still avoid daifuku), but I’ve gotten to the point where I can enjoy it in certain forms and amounts. If anything, the mochi used in sakura mochi is just right for me since it’s so thin and soft, and there’s not too much there. If anything, it’s more like pastry dough than pounded rice!
April 24, 2013 at 9:04 pm
I like mochi very much, but maybe because we have also made it at home in Japan :) Photos here, here, here, here. But the only sakuramochi I’ve eaten was from the supermarket…
April 25, 2013 at 9:09 am
That doesn’t look too hard to make at home if you have the right materials (and the right people to help!). I’ve only made mochi twice at community events, so there was lots going on, and I just took my turns and then tried to stay out of the way.
Matsue has lots and lots of wagashi shops, so even though there probably are sakuramochi in the regular grocery stores, there’s no reason to get them there. Street vendors have been selling them at events since February, too!
April 26, 2013 at 7:19 am
I’ve been eating sakura-mochi with the leaf on for years with no idea it was weird! Is removing the leaf standard practice in Japan? None of my Japanese teachers ever indicated the correct way to eat the mochi so I don’t really know what to think now.
April 26, 2013 at 9:01 am
I haven’t actually watched anyone else eat it so I don’t know what’s standard, and I wasn’t self conscious about it until I overheard that. It’s the little things like that which rob me of my cultural confidence…
May 22, 2013 at 11:20 am
To follow up, some readers have assured me that it is perfectly okay to eat sakura-mochi with the leaf still on, and in fact, decades ago there was a homemade style dessert that would involve coating anko in a similar salty brine (which would still be just as much of a surprise to children expecting the normal sweetness, it sounds like).