We started our walk from Asakusa, strolled around Mukojima, and had a bite to eat at local Chinese restaurant (by the way, I had Tianjin Noodles, which was reasonably priced and tasty). Now, it was time to start again.
On the way to Shirahige Shrine, a flower on the side of the road caught my attention and I took this shot.
Similar in shape to nemophila, but unfamiliar color… what kind of flower is it?
We are heading to Shirahige Shrine, one of the seven gods of good fortune on the Sumida River.
Here is its beautiful shrine pavilion.
I think this was started as an ingenious idea for the Corona disaster, but I’ve never seen this “QR code Omikuji fortune” before. Interesting this!
In addition to the above, there was an electric sign in the main shrine hall (not visible because it was in the shadows) that displayed the “word of the month,” and many other new innovations were seen at the shrine.
From Shirahige Shrine, we continued on through the residential area and came to Mukojima Hyakkaen garden, one of the highlights of our walk.
According to a garden guide, this is a “private garden” created by merchants with the cooperation of literati, unlike such feudal lord gardens as Rikugien and Koishikawa Korakuen. You enter the garden through this elegant wooden gate.
This potted plant displayed near the entrance was dainty and kind of chic.
With the cherry blossom season over, the park may have just had a rather quiet season. It was quite quaint to go around taking little by little small pictures of the flowers blooming.
Come to think of it, early May was the season for this. I’m not sure if it’s the Ayame(iris) or the Shobu? Kakitsubata? … I can’t tell the difference at all.
The petals are unsettled by wind, but that’s about it.
Across the pond, the Tokyo Sky Tree still shows its face here.
Rather than being out of place, let’s consider this kind of view no longer a Joto District tradition.
The season of fresh greenery. The green of this bamboo grove is also very refreshing.
The color of this flower is also light, not showy, but really tasteful.
Now, I had a TAMRON 90mm in my bag in case the LUMIX S20-60mm was really lacking on the telephoto side, but so far it has not come into play at all.
So I decided to put it to some use here, attached the lens to the S5 via a K-mount adapter, and voila!
No matter which camera you use it with, the Tam 90 will always look like the Tam 90.
With a full size camera, 90mm doesn’t provide much of a pulling effect, so I decided to find a flower closer at hand and get closer.
Yeah, this is good too. I believe I used a stop down to f/8, but it’s a sufficient back bokeh.
The potted lilies were blooming beautifully, so this was another chance to get a closer shot.
This is a goofy way to use a macro lens, putting one flower in the middle and taking a large shot, but if it’s so fluffy and beautiful, goofy is fine.
I found that the TAMRON 90mm lens works well with the S5. Since it is via an adapter, AF cannot be used, but since macro lenses are often used in MF mode to begin with, there is not much discomfort in that respect either.
So, I was finally able to try out the Tam 90 at Hyakkaen, and my walk around Mukojima so far was, in my own way, a completion of my planned mission.
Well, the next issue will finally be the last of the Mukojima section, and I will be sending you a special program that is not a town walk. Stay tuned.
