Lotus flowers in Shinobazu-no-ike pond

 Shinobazu-no-ike pond has a lot of lotuses, and it is in Ueno Park in Taitō city (ward), Tōkyō. The nearest station is Ueno station on JR line and Tokyo Metro, or on Keisei line Keisei-Ueno station. But Keisei line station is the nearest to one.

 In the Edo period (1603 ~ 1868), in Ueno Park there was Kanei-ji temple. The temple was built by a Buddhist monk in 1625. His name was Tenkai, and it is supposed that the lotuses in the pond were planted by him.

 Now, the pond isn’t so clean and does not smell good either. But very beautiful lotus flowers bloom there every summer. Around the pond we can see a lot of azalea flowers in May, and a lot of hydrangea flowers in June, too. I have seen some carps, turtles, and waterside birds here. We can’t see the inside of the pond because it is getting muddy, but some other creatures may live there. Let’s stop feeding living things in the pond because it will get dirty.

 In May 2014, when I went to the pond to see lotuses, there was a bridge to see them from. But there were no flowers because it wasn’t the right season, so I went there again in August 2015. At that time, I could see a lot of beautiful flowers.